XMen New Dawn: Crossroads
by IlluminatiKOTE
Summary: The school is destroyed and the young X-men have been separated. Each of them have felt the consequences and repercussions of what has happened. Now they must carve their own path and see what the future holds for them without the X-men.
1. Standing at Midnight

**Young X-Men: Crossroads**

**Chapter One: Standing at Midnight**

The Canadian air is crisp. There is a light breeze that could chill a person to the bones. A large mid 1800's style mansion resides in the center of acres of forest. The sun beamed in a room on the second floor in the east wing of the former plantation of the Howlett family. The light reflected off the floor to the ceiling of the room. In the room, there is a large bed. There are comics splayed all over the floor with some open to various pages. On the side of the room, Charles sat and combed through some of the issues he had; looking for something to read. As he dug through a large crate for one of his favorite comics, he threw the rest behind him.

"No, not that one." Charles muttered as he continued to dig deeper into the crate for a few more minutes. "I don't want to read that one either."

As Charles looked deeper in his comic collection, his large, wooden door opened wide and his blinds became drawn. Sure enough, his mother appeared; eyes glowing.

"Charles, Breakfast if ready. I need you to come down stairs." Jean Grey said as she walked over to her son.

Charles looked up from his crate and towards his mother with a smile on his face.

"Ooo food" Charles exclaimed. "Just give me a few minutes to clean some of this up and then I'll head downstairs"

Charles stood up and started to clean up his comics as his mother left the room and headed downstairs.

'It's been two weeks since the whole school thing and I have to stop pretending that I'm ok with this.' Charles thought as he put the last of his comics in his crate and headed out of his room and downstairs.

When he walked downstairs, he went into a large dining room with a glass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Charles took a seat at the table and looked around waiting for his mother to bring in breakfast. As he waited, he heard a set of wheels squeaking down a long dark hall way. Charles turned his head and saw his father, the once great and proud Wolverine of the X-men, now bound to a wheelchair coming down the hallway coming towards the dining room.

"Hey dad, what's up?" said Charles as he looked at his father.

Wolverine just looked at his son, wheeled himself across from Charles and picked up a mug of coffee that was left for him by Jean.

"Jean, what are we having for breakfast?" James said with a hint of aggravation in his voice

"James, we are having eggs and bacon and if you don't quit that attitude you'll be wearing it." Said Jean as she carried a plate in each hand and one with her telekinesis.

She placed the plates in front of Charles, then James and then seated herself next to her husband and started eating. The breakfast was awkward as no one really spoke to each other. The family just looked at each other as they continued to eat until Jean looked at her son and husband and had enough of the silence.

"If no one is going to talk, I'm going to say something. We came here to get away from Manhattan and Westchester after all of the loss and grief we had been put through. We came to your home James so we can have some time to grow as a family but all you seem to do is brood and pity yourself now that you're bound to the wheelchair. I'm sorry that you can't fight alongside the X-men, but you can still be a great figure in your son's life now." Jean said as she walked away from the table, went to the porch and looked at the sky.

James looked at Charles, wheeled himself down the same dark hallway from which he came from. Charles sat in shock as he looked at both of his parents leave the room. He got up from the chair and walked outside and stood next to his mother.

"Mom, what was that all about at breakfast?" Charles asked as he looked at the sky with his mother next to him.

"Charles, I can read you and your father's mind. I know neither of you wants to be here, but don't want to talk about it. Your father doesn't because he is too proud to admit that he is now weakened and embarrassed because he has to use a wheelchair. You, my little Charlie, are still saddened by what has happened with the school. I am upset to, but we have to try to live our lives without the X-men" Jean said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Charles looked at his mother and hugged her. Then he walked inside the house, ran upstairs to his room and grabbed a backpack. He looked around his room, grabbed some clothes and one issue from his crate of comics. After stuffing his bag, Charles walked into his closet, pulled out his Young X-Men uniform and threw it in the bag. Charles put his bag under his bed, walked out of his room and closed the door. Charles walked downstairs down the dark hallway which his father always went down. Charles sniffed the air and located his father in a locked room at the end of the hall. Charles tried to look for a key around the door but couldn't find one.

"Ok, I'll make my own key" Charles said as he released one of his claws, cut off the lock and pushed the door open.

The room is large and very exquisite. The walls are covered with trophies of dead animals and a bear skin rug covered the floor. Towards the back of the room is a fireplace that was lit and close to it is James, sitting in his chair, looking at the fireplace with no sense of time nor a care in the world.

"Father, you can't stay in here the whole time we are living here; this place is your home too. Mom understands why you're acting up and I can read your mind too. Dad we are a family." Charles said as he looked at his father by the fireplace.

The light reflected off the chrome wheels of the chair and the flames danced in the fireplace. Charles stood there until he heard a grunt from his father.

"You and your mother have a bad habit to invade my mind when I don't want you to." Said James as he turned to face Charles, he face darkened by the lack of direct light. "Did you know what I was doing at your age, I was working in a quarry. I was more mature at your age then you are now. What are you going to do without the X-men? What do you want from life son?"

Charles stood in shock as his father pushed him away. Charles clenched his fist and with a stern look in his eyes they started to glow.

"At least I know what I'm going to do now dad. I won't waste my time or my breath, but you're going to live your long, long, life without me in that chair." Charles said walked out of the room and slammed the door with his telekinesis.

James turned his chair towards the fire and opened a letter that was sitting on his lap.

"Do what you must son. Find your place in this world on your own. Don't be someone else's pawn." James said to himself as he finished reading the letter.

He wheeled himself over to a small table and dialed the phone number that was in the letter. After a few moments, James spoke into the phone..

"I'm in" James said.

He hung up the phone, wheeled himself towards the fire again and with anguish flowing though him; James, the former X-men known as Wolverine, unsheathed his claws for the last time.

Charles stormed into his room and sat on his bed for a few moments. Jean came into the room and sat next to her son. Charles looked at her and then at the floor, his breath increasing, trying to keep himself from crying. Jean put her arm around her son to give him comfort, but Charles didn't give into his emotions. Jean looked at him and said,

"I know what you're planning to do and I respect your decision."

Charles looked at his mother and hugged her. He reached under his bed and grabbed the bag that he had prepared. Charles ran out of his room and left the large estate that had been "home" for the last two weeks. Jean stood at the window to see her son leave the family that they were trying to build Charles' intent was not to destroy it, but to better it and him. Jean put her hand to the window as tears rolled down her face as she saw her son leave the grounds and head into the deeper forests of Alberta, Canada.

The day turned into night as Charles continued to walk throughout the woods. The sounds of the forest resonated through the night along with the sounds of wolves, birds, and caribou as they travelled through the night. Charles was on his own, no team, no help for untold miles. All he had was his natural abilities and his goal in mind. Charles stopped by a small creek, placed his bag down and took a seat next to it.

'I don't know what to do. I left home because I felt that I wasn't doing anything. I have no place to go now. Ace is with his mother, Amy is in Russia and everyone else is just scattered all over the place. I just feel so lost right now and father was a total dick to me. I'm not even sure why he is pushing me away, but I have to do this on my own for now. I guess I'm going to follow down the same path that my father took.'

Charles opens his bag and puts on his old X-men uniform.

"It's time for the world to see what I can do!"

Charles picked up his bag and started to run through the darkness. The moon traversed the night sky as the light from it reflected off the creek that Charles was following. Charles felt more in control than he ever had as the wind blew from the north and hit his back. It was as if the wind itself is pushing Charles toward his goal of independence. As the hours past, Charles started to grow tired from his hours of walking and decides to rest. Charles sits near the creek, uses his bag as a pillow and closed his eyes as the moon was still high in the sky. After several hours Charles woke up on his journey of self discovery. He picked up his bag and walked down the creek stopping every once and awhile for a drink of water. Charles continued on this journey for three more days as he went deeper and deeper into the Canadian wilderness until he hit the Canadian city of Calgary. On the outskirts of the city, Charles changed out of his X-men uniform and put on some of his civilian clothing. Charles put on a hat, hoping not to attract any enemies that maybe in the town. Charles walked into the metropolis with hunger in his stomach but a sense of pride leading him on and on. Charles looked around and was amazed that the city was a lot like New York. Charles was in luck as he went into the city because the city was having the annual Mosaic Cultural Festival. The city erupts as Charles sees the many different cultures of the city. In the heart of the city, the booths for that night's celebration were being set-up and Charles looked on deciding to stay in the city for the days' festival. As Charles went to kill time, he found himself on a bench on Stephen Avenue. It is full of metal trees and was one of the largest malls in the city he was in. Charles found a vending machine, put a few coins in the machine and grabbed a chocolate bar. He walked back to the bench and took a seat.

'I have to kill more time; I'm guessing that the festival doesn't start till after dark.'

Charles looks around and saw a flyer for a new arcade that had opened in the mall.

"Cool!"

Charles walked down the street, trying to find the address of the arcade. Every so often he would ask people from the town where the street was, but couldn't really understand where they were sending him because he didn't understand French very well. Charles wondered for about an hour, unknown to his knowledge the street cameras were rotating and zoomed in on Charles as he walked towards the arcade. When Charles walked into the arcade, also known as The White Hot Room, Charles looked at the sign, shook his head and proceeded into the place. The arcade was filled with games and flashing lights; the place sounded like a club for teenagers with their own DJ that was hanging from the ceiling. Charles went over to the counter and placed a few Canadian Dollars on it as the cashier handed Charles a small bag of tokens for the games.

'I'm lucky that worked, but I guess all arcades are the same all over the world.' Charles thought as he walked towards the Tekken: Forever, the latest installment of the long running Tekken franchise.

Charles started playing the game for a little over an hour as the security cameras were zooming in on him and recording his every move. Charles was deep into the game, already setting high scores on two of the characters and working on his third until a person with a black and white hooded sweat shirt, their face being covered by the hood, came over and placed a coin into the machine. Charles turned quickly at the new opponent with anger in his voice because he was in the last level with this character. The person next to Charles said nothing as he screamed in anger as the person next to him chose their character.

"You couldn't have waited till I was done with the match." Charles said as he looked at the person next to him.

"Well are you going to play the game or just waste my time" said the person next with a female voice.

"Fine, let's get this game on!" Charles said as he picked his character and the game started.

A few games later, Charles was on a losing streak. Charles stood in shock as he reached into his pocket trying to find more tokens for the machine. However, he found out that he had used all of them up against this girl.

"Well I guess I'm done here." Charles went to turn around, but the girl opened her mouth and said,

"So you're giving up Weapon XV?"

Charles stopped and went to grab the girl by the hood, but felt a hand on his shoulder. Charles turned around and saw an old friend standing there, Timothy Rivers, also known as Warrior of Alpha Flight. The girl took off her hood to reveal herself, Gail Beaubier, also known as Corona of Alpha Flight. Charles let go of Gail and took a step back as Timothy and Gail smiled at him. He was confused as to why they were in that city.

"Hey Guys!" Charles said happily.

"Hello Charles." Said Timothy as he reached his hand out and shook Charles' hand and Gail waved at him.

"So what are you guys doing here?" asked Charles as the three teens walked to a small table inside the arcade.

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Timothy stated and waved over a waiter.

"We heard about the incident at the Xavier Institute and we've been on the lookout for any terrorists that might be targeting mutants." Said Gail as the waiter placed glasses of water in front of each of them.

"No, we know who attacked us, but we haven't been able to find them. Plus the X-men are no more." Charles said as he put his head down on the table.

Gail and Timothy looked at each other, not knowing what to say in response to the news.

"Look Charles, I know that this is all of the sudden, but you know since your father was on the team and we can always use another person on our team." Timothy said as he placed his hand on Charles's shoulder.

"Your family with Alpha Flight, always XV" said Gail as she got up and headed for the door of the building. "So you are coming with us?"

Charles looked up as he saw Gail and Timothy start to leave. Charles grabbed his bag and followed the two of them out of the building. In the distance, a security camera zoomed in onto the teens as they left the building and headed down the street towards one of the hotels in the city.

"So this is where you're staying?" asked Charles as he walked into the hotel with Gail and Timothy.

"Yea we are. We're here for the Cultural Mosaic Festival." Gail said as she went into the bathroom to try on a few dresses for the festival.

"Most of the time, the whole team comes to this festival, but since we are spread out to find this terrorist. Since we haven't had any leads. Hopefully now that you're here we can see if they had fled up north to avoid capture." Timothy said as he sat on the bed waiting for Gail to come out of the bathroom.

"We have time before the festival and to be honest I don't want to even think of the whole thing that happened back in Westchester. That's why I left home. I wanted to get my mind off of the whole thing and find my own place in the world without the X-men." Charles said as he went through his bag to find a fresh pair of clothing.

Gail came out of the bathroom wearing a blue and white dress which has small diamond studs in it. Timothy and Charles looked at Gail stunned by her beauty..

"Well I guess I look kind of ok. I guess I don't have to ask you guys your opinion." Gail said as she went back into the bathroom to change out of the dress.

A few hours past as the teens caught up with each other and talked about the recent events in their lives to bring themselves to this point. As the time passes, the teens get ready for the festival and leave the hotel shortly after. As they arrived at the festival, the town was in frenzy. Most of the people in the city were taking parts in carnival type games and indulging themselves into the different cultures of the area. The teens started to play games. Charles for the first time in about three weeks was finally enjoying himself.

"Charles looks like he is having fun." Gail said as she threw a ball at a couple of pins that were sitting on a small table.

"Yea he is. He is like a little brother to me. I've known Charles since he was born when his parents brought him up here for a trip." Timothy said as he saw the ball fly past the pins and he started to laugh.

Gail pointed her finger at the pins and fired a small light blast to knock over the pins. The man that was running the booth started to scream as Gail walked away with a smile on her face. Timothy followed Gail as they went to find Charles who was eating a large plate of fried dough. There is powdered sugar on his face and a smile,

"So what have you guys been up too?"

"We have been playing some games" Gail said.

She smiled at Charles and took some of the fried dough off of Charles's plate. The three walked to the center of the festival where the Mayor stood at the microphone surrounded by a bunch of civilians.

"Welcome to the Mosaic Festival! Today I want to welcome to the festival two members of Alpha Flight. Please Welcome Corona and Warrior to the stage." The mayor stated as the crowd started to applaud more and more as the two teen heroes walked onto the stage.

Charles looked confused as his friends walked onto the stage.

"Hello city of Calgary, I am Warrior and my associate here is Corona as you all may know. We come here every year to celebrate the great diversity in your town and in our great nation. We have the privilege to serve you great citizens everyday of our lives and I hope that you guys are proud of us and our services." Said Timothy as the crowd was clapping and screaming things like "Our heroes!", "Warrior your amazing!", "Corona you're so hot!"

Charles looked as Timothy and Gail walked off the stage and became surrounded by all of the citizens. Charles was trying to make his way through the crowd until he made it to the members of Alpha Flight.

"I didn't know you guys were guest of honor at this festival." said Charles as he walked with Timothy and Gail pushing through the crowd.

"We aren't really guests of honor; the mayor always knows we come here every year. He told us we could come as guests of honor this year because of all the times we come." Gail said as she grabbed hold of Charles.

Gail and Timothy took flight and headed to the top of the hotel. When they landed Gail let go of Charles and the three of them made their way down to their room. After the day of excitement the three teens went to bed and took a long rest that they had deserved. Hours later an alarm clock went off, startling the three teens. They woke still in their clothes from the night before and were tired. The teens gathered their clothes and changed from last night's clothing into something more comfortable. Charles, Timothy and Gail then went down to the main desk and checked out of the hotel, not even paying for Charles, whom they had snunk into the room.

"So where are you guys are headed to now?" asked Charles as he walked down the street with Gail and Timothy.

"We are going to head back to Department H HQ so we can tell them some of the info that we found about the Institute incident." Timothy said. "What about you, Charles?"

"I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out" said Charles as he smiled at Gail and Timothy.

"Why don't you come with us back to Department H? You're always welcome onto Alpha Flight." Gail asked.

"Right now I'm going to follow my own path" Charles said.

"Alright Charles" Gail said as she took off into the sky.

"Hopefully you will change your mind. Good-Bye" said Timothy as he shook Charles's hand and he took flight.

As Charles looked at the sky and saw his friends fly off into the distance, he began to think about the incident at the school. He started to breathe heavier and his eyes started to well up from all the emotional pain that he'd been burying deep down inside since the day of the explosion.

"I don't know what to do in my life. I don't want to be just like my father and I don't want to be like anyone else. I want to be myself and be the hero I know I can be. I will hunt down those that hurt me and my family and find my place in the world"

Charles started to cry for the first time in a while. The flood gates to his heart were finally open and he allowed himself to feel the pain that he had been hiding from his father. A few moments later Charles was walking up to a counter at the airport. After purchasing a ticket, Charles placed his bag over his shoulder and headed for the gate. Over the loud speaker a female voice could be heard saying,

"Last boarding call for the 12:15 to Moscow, please proceed to gate 31"

Charles, with a smile on his face, walked towards Gate 31 with a picture of Amy in his hands.

'I'll see you soon Amy'

Charles boarded the plane and took a seat knowing that his future was in his hands.

Elsewhere in the Department H Headquarters, a wall of monitors light up showing Charles in various places and times. In a monitor in the center showed Charles boarding the plane.

"So what is so important in Russia?" ask the Director as he turned towards the door in the room.

"I couldn't tell you" said Gail as she walked into the room and stood in front of the Director. "We offered him a position with Alpha Flight, but Weapon XV declined."

"He needs to be watched and monitored. One day he might end up like his father."

The door then opens again and Timothy walked into the monitor room in his Warrior uniform.

"Director I want you to back off of Charles."

"He is our weapon. He got away and he needs to come back to us, either by force or not!" the director said as he slammed his fist to the ground.

"I said you won't" Timothy stated as he fired an energy blast at the director, knocking him to the ground. "From now on, he is under the care of Alpha Flight. Now stay away from Charles. He has to find his own path in life." Timothy then flew out of the room and looked towards where the plane that carried Charles might have been and silently wished his friend luck on his mission of self discovery.


	2. All Around Me

**Young X-men: Crossroads**

**Chapter 2: All Around Me**

Amy walked through the streets of St. Petersburg, the frigid air slapping against her face. Her family was staying in Russia for a few months after the horror that occurred at the school. Her parents, Pitor Rasputin, known to the X-men world as Colossus and her mother Kitty Pryde-Rasputin, known as Shadowcat, walked a few inches in front of her, whispering in Russian. Her knowledge of the language was very basic, but she could tell by their tone and facial expressions that they were concerned about her.

_And why wouldn't they be, considering all that has happened…_she thought sadly, trying to push the images from her mind. Her stomach was constantly in knots, and her heart felt like it was in her throat.

Their destination was the Winter Palace, in particular the Hermitage museum. It was a glorious place, and on a normal day it would be a dream come true for Amy. She researched the place once, and found out that it had the largest collection of paintings in the world (almost three million pieces of art!)

"I can't wait to go inside, how about you sweetie?" Kitty asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh? Yeah, it sounds amazing," she said, trying to seem enthused in front of her parents. She knew how worried they were that a girl her age has seen so much death and destruction. She didn't like seeing them upset, so she smiled and told them that she was fine. They filed into the museum, but not even its breathtaking beauty could calm her mind. Her thoughts went to Charles and Ace first, and everything that happened with both of them. It's not that she wanted to hurt Ace, those weren't her intentions. But almost losing Charles, it ignited that spark in her heart that was always there. It pushed her to run towards those underlying feelings. It wasn't like she didn't find Ace attractive, but there was something about Charles that drew her in, that made her want to stay. She thought of holding onto him, fearing for his life. She was so relieved that he survived; she couldn't even fathom what it would feel like if he hadn't. She recalled what his face had looked like, blue and bloodied. Her whole life would have ended if his did, and she prayed every night that it never would.

_So many dead…so much destruction_ the voice in her mind whispered.

"Enjoying yourself?" her father said.

"Yes daddy, this place is amazing," she answered. He smiled at her, and they continued to walk through the museum.

_They say it would take you eleven years to see every room, ELEVEN. _

"Seems like a lifetime away," she mumbled to herself. "What will I be doing in eleven years? Will I be an X-Man? Does the X-Men even exist anymore after this?"

Her thoughts drifted to her team, well what was of her team. The last time she saw any of them, Joshua was dying and Brent fled. She never imagined Brent could be so violent with someone, and it shocked her. Things were changing between them, and she doubted whether or not they would ever be a team again. Amy felt as if the school was a part of her, as well as the team, and now that both were destroyed, she couldn't help feeling as if she would never be complete.

_Professor Xavier, one of the strongest men I know, gone…_

"You look tired, how about we go home and get something to eat?" Kitty said, exchanging glances with Pitor.

"That sounds good," he replied.

"Sound good to you, Amy?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry," she said, despite thinking she wouldn't be able to hold down any food. The three of them walked out of the massive palace, and headed back home. As they approached the house, she noticed a guy standing by the door. Smiling, she ran up the steps of the house and embraced him.

"Miss me?" he asked with a grin.

"You have no idea!" she said, hugging him harder. Although her back was turned to them, she could see her parents smiling at one another.

"We're just about to eat, why don't you come inside Charles?" Kitty said politely.

"Sure Mrs. Rasputin," he said, following them inside. Kitty began preparing the meal, and Charles sat with Amy and Pitor at the table.

"How've you been, how's your parents?" Pitor asked Charles.

He sighed, thinking of his father's anger and mother's sadness.

"You know how my dad is, he's not handling the whole wheelchair thing well," Charles said with resentment in his voice.

"Your mother is a saint for putting up with him," Kitty said while continuing her cooking.

"You ain't kidding," he said. Amy looked at Charles, and felt bad for what he had to put up with. She reached under the table, and grabbed his hand. He looked at her in shock at first, and then smiled.

"Almost ready, I promise," Kitty said, finishing up the meal.

"It's fine mom, take your time," Amy said.

"So, what do you think we'll do now that there isn't the institute anymore?" Charles asked.

"I don't know honestly. I've been thinking about it a lot, but I really can't decide what to do next," Amy said.

"We just need some time to figure it out, I guess," Charles said.

"Here you go," Kitty said, placing bowls of hot soup in front of them. "Enjoy."

"Thanks mom," said Amy, and began eating. The room was filled with the sounds of spoons hitting the bowls and slurping, until a knock on the door interrupted their meal.

"I'll answer it," Pitor said apprehensively, and walked toward the door. He saw his brother Mikhail standing in the doorway and scowled.

"What can I do for you, brother?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"I need to speak with Amy for a moment," Mikhail said coldly.

"Why would someone like _you _need to speak to my daughter? I will allow no such thing! People like you are not welcome in my house, or near my family! If you think you're going to turn her into some solider for your sick agenda, you are mistaken!"

"Brother, you are the one that is mistaken, I only wish to inform her of some options. Since the sad situation at the school has transpired, your daughter has the right to know of ways to live up to her potential."

"Ah yes, use tragedy to your advantage, how very fitting of you Mikhail."

"Dad, stop it. I'll go outside and talk to him quickly, and then he can be on his way," Amy said, wanting to stop the argument.

"Fine, but five minutes, that's it!" Pitor growled. Kitty looked on nervously, and Charles was speechless.

"After you," Mikhail said, motioning for Amy to walk outside. She stepped out of the doorway, and closed the door behind her.

"Добрый день. Amy. Как поживаете? " (Good afternoon Amy, how are you?)

"Спасибо, хорошо. Как дела?" (Fine, thank you. How are you doing?)

Mikhail laughed. "I am well, thank you Amy. See, your Russian isn't as bad as you think it is. Just remember who taught you when you were a baby."

Amy shifted uncomfortably. "So, what brings you here, considering how you and dad feel about each other."

"Your father just doesn't understand me, or what I believe in. Amy, you are very talented, and a mutant like you has so much potential. That school, as noble as its intentions were, was not teaching you to use your abilities to their fullest."

"What makes you say that?" Amy said defensively.

"Mutants should be able to use their powers how they see fit. Why should we allow others to control us, to keep us weak? Why should we be kept defenseless and vulnerable? Look what happened to your school, your friends. Had they been properly equipped and allowed to fully develop, they would not have fallen prey to Sinister and his Hellions."

Amy was stunned into silence for a moment. She remembered what her father told her about Mikhail and Gene Nation, but he did have a point. Were the confines and regulations of the school partially responsible for its attack?

"Dad said that Gene Nation was bad, that you guys caused the death of many innocent people," Amy said.

"Yes, I admit that in the past we had less than noble intentions, but you must believe me when I say that is not the case anymore. I want to create an organization that fosters the pride and strengthening of mutation, not its demise or shame. It is time for all mutants to come out of the shadows and not be afraid to walk among humanity. We have every right to exist as they do, and if we need to use force to survive, then so be it. I've seen what being forced into the underground and living in fear can do to mutants. Am I proud to have murdered humans in retribution? Of course not. Amy, if you agree to trust me and help me recreate Gene Nation, we can ensure that we will not fall victim to those like Sinister and his followers. Sometimes to combat evil, you must use your own tools against them. We can save mutants and humans alike. I'm not saying you have to give me an answer now. I'll be in touch with you soon. I know this is a lot to absorb, and I understand your parents' apprehension about any involvement with me. Knowing my track record, I can't say I blame them."

Before Amy could respond, the door slammed open, and Pitor stood with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face.

"You are finished talking to my daughter," he said, not removing his eyes from Mikhail for a second.

"She's my niece too, and I have her best intentions at heart."

"The only person's intentions that you care about are your own," Kitty said coldly, stepping beside her husband.

"I see that I have overextended my welcome. Amy, you know I love you, and want to see you succeed. I get scared thinking about what happened at that school, and what could have happened to you. I will talk to you again," he said as he bent over, kissed her on the forehead, and walked off of the front porch.

"I'll think about it, goodbye," she said softly.

"Come inside Amy," said Kitty. Amy watched Mikhail walk away for a moment, and then followed her mother into the house.

"What did he want? Tell me what he said to you," Pitor said.

"Honey, let her have a minute to breathe first," Kitty said, patting Amy's shoulder. Charles watched the Rasputins, but said nothing. He felt that it wasn't his place to say anything when it was clearly family business.

"He wants...to start Gene Nation up again. But he said it will be different this time, that it's just for mutant protection and defense," Amy said.

"WHAT! Gene Nation, those lying terrorist bastards! You told him no, didn't you?" Pitor demanded, clearly enraged.

"I said I'd think it over, he sounds like he's changed. He's my uncle after all, not one of those Hellions!" Amy snapped back.

"He might as well be one of them, they all think the same! I know you feel that because he's family that you can trust him, but you can't. He's going to manipulate you and use you to further his twisted vision of how life should be. He will do anything to further his own ends, including playing upon your sympathies. Don't be naive!"

"What am I supposed to do!? The school couldn't protect us, the X-Men couldn't! Now both are destroyed! Am I supposed to live a "normal" life, pretend that I'm just a teenager? Allow myself to be weak, to be unprotected? This is my life we are talking about here!" Amy said, and then stormed out of the back door. The sun was beginning to set, bringing the temperature down to a chilling degree. She ignored the cold, and walked towards the small stream that ran through her backyard.

_How did things get so screwed up? _she thought to herself while looking at the water. People who she thought were invincible were dead. The school, a place that was her sanctuary, her home, was now a pile of rubble. _How quickly things can be torn apart, how easily. _

"Amy," said Charles, walking outside. "It's freezing out here, I brought your coat."

"Thanks," she said, taking it out of his hands and putting it on.

"Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself."

"How can we be anymore, Charles? After everything we have been through? Luke and Kelly are dead! Nothing will ever be the same," she said, and tears began to trickle out of her eyes. Charles put his arm around her, and sighed.

"I know that everything seems shot to hell right now, but I'll be here for you. I promise I won't leave."

"That day at the school, I was so scared that you were gone for good that when you woke up I didn't want to let you go, ever."

Charles smiled. "Who said you had to?"

"You say that now, but who knows what could happen? People can be gone in a blink of an eye," she said sadly.

"That's life; yes things happen that we don't plan on. You can't stop living because of it though."

He turned around to face her, and looked right in her eyes.

"When I was starting to wake up again, the first thing I heard was your voice, Amy," he continued. "You know I love you, and would do anything for you. Even if you don't feel the same about me."

Amy tried to find a response, but didn't know what to say. She cared for Charles deeply, and it was more than just lust. Ace popped into her mind. She couldn't deny that she was physically attracted to him; he was Gambit's son after all. Was it normal to be attracted to someone else while having feelings for another? She knew in her heart that she felt a much more emotional attachment to Charles, but could she pretend she had no feelings for Ace at all? Did she want to explore that attraction with him? Her thoughts swirled like a nest of angry bees, and for once she wished they would stop.

"Amy, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just thinking, as always."

Charles leaned in closer to her, and kissed her softly on the lips. "For once, stop thinking, and go on how you feel," he said, and then kissed her again. She kissed him back, and it became more intense. She put her hand around his neck, and he put his arm around her waist. The night was freezing, but neither of them seemed to mind.

"Amy, Charles!" called Kitty out of the back door. "It's getting cold, come inside!"

"Damn it, I didn't want to stop," Charles said with a grin.

"It's not like we won't do it again," she said, giggling.

The two of them walked back to the house, and were pleasantly greeted by the scent of chocolate.

"I made some desert, come sit and have some," Kitty said while putting a chocolate cake on the table.

"Is dad joining us?"

"No, he decided to go to bed. It's for the best really; he needs time to calm down." Kitty cut the cake in slices, and handed Amy and Charles a piece. She then grabbed some milk out of the fridge and poured it.

"Hey, Mrs. Rasputin, do you know any hotels around here I can stay in?" Charles said between bites.

"Nonsense, you can stay here tonight. I'll get some blankets and pull the bed out of the couch," Kitty said, and walked out of the room.

Amy picked at her piece, whereas Charles inhaled it like it was the first thing he had eaten in ten years.

"It's really nice of your mom to let me stay here," Charles said, getting up from the table and putting his plate in the sink.

"Yeah, she loves having guests; it's not a problem with her. Do you want this, I can't finish it," she said, handing the plate to Charles.

He shrugged and said, "Sure, it's damn good cake." He took it from her and began to wolf it down. Amy thought of everything that had happened today, especially the conversation with her uncle. Could the man that showed her farms, taught her to say Russian words, and tried to help her with her powers have evil intentions? Was he really just going to use her like her father said? Her life seemed to be a never ending series of choices. Will she stay with her family until the X-Men hopefully come back together? Or will she take her uncle up on his offer and help recreate Gene Nation? Will she choose Charles or Ace? Or will something different happen in her life. She so desperately wanted to find her purpose in life, despite her young age.

"I'm going to bed, I'm exhausted," she said, and got up from the table.

"Ok, goodnight," said Charles, kissing her on the cheek.

"Goodnight," she said, and headed to bed. She got into her room, and then lied down. Finally after a few hours, she was able to get some sleep, a much needed break from the chaos in her life. Tomorrow, she decided, it was time to really figure out what to do next.


	3. Hand of Sorrow

**Young X-Men: Crossroads**

**Chapter Three: Hand of Sorrow**

The sky was dark and the thick smell of the swamp filled the air. The stars in the sky were bright and so was the moon, but it couldn't pierce the thick brush of the tree tops to the swamp river below. On the river, a speed boat rode, with three mysterious and black cloaked individuals on it. One of the individuals held a lantern, while one of them manned the propeller. The third stood with his arms crossed looking towards the darkened sky. The boat rode down the river until the fog got too thick and the person manning the propeller turned off the engine.

"Why have we stopped?" asked the one holding the lantern, turning towards the man at the back of the boat.

"The fog is too thick to continue. It would be safer if we stopped for now and wait for this to clear up." The person in the back of the boat said.

"No we continue; this fog has followed me since I started this journey and I am determined to make my way to the end of this path" said the individual that was crossing his arms.

He pointed at the person who was working the propeller. Fear raced through his very soul as he started the engine. The boat continued along the course of the river until they veered off toward the left and stopped the engine.

"We're here as per the instructions." The individual with the lantern in his hand said.

The man that manned the engine stood up, exited the boat and waded towards shore. Once he had gotten there, he took off the hood to reveal an older man with grey hair and wrinkles. He pointed toward the others and waved at the others on the boat to signal them to come ashore. The person with the lantern waded in the water until they got to shore and took off their hood to reveal a middle aged man.

"Elder, have you seen what is ahead?" asked the middle aged man as the two men waited on shore for the third to come to them. The elder man's eyes started to glow, flashing in his mind various situations that would happen to the three men, the last flash being the strongest showed all three men on the ground covered in blood while a figure that looked like death stood over them.

"Yes I have Jonas; I think we should retreat back to the command without the ruby." Said the Elder man as they looked at the shore and saw the third individual come to shore with the fog seeming to follow him.

"No we have to continue this." The third individual said as they removed his hood revealing a young teen with red eyes that seemed to glow in the dark sky. "The guild sent us here and we will continue what we have started."

"Ace, This mission is doomed to fail. I have seen it." The elderly man stated as he took the lantern from Jonas.

"We are continuing." Ace said as he walked off in the distance and past the two other members of the thieves' guild.

Jonas then put his hood up and followed Ace into the darkness as the fog followed both of the thieves, The man known as the Elder then walked up to Jonas and gave him a small lantern and then walked back to the boat and started the engine, knowing what was going to happen to them if they continued on this fool hearted mission. "There is no jewel in the world that is worth all of this trouble. That boy Ace seems to have a death wish ever since he joined the guild." The old man then started to make his way down the river in the speed boat, but he didn't make it far as the thick fog swallowed him up causing his boat to hit a rock. The hull of the small boat broke apart as the elder fell into the water. He screamed for help but was far away enough from Ace and Jonas that they couldn't hear him. The elder held onto a piece of the boat when a hand from the darkness reached out towards him. "Oh thank you so much." The Elder then reached out, but the hand that was reaching out turned into a fist and fired a plasma blast at the Elder.

"Operation: Black Gambit will continue." Said the mysterious person as they vanished back into the darkness.

Meanwhile back on the shore Ace and Jonas walked deeper and deeper into the darkness. Jonas turned towards Ace, who was playing with a deck of cards in his hands, and glared at the young mutant and then looked forward again continuing their walk. "Look Ace, You know I don't like you or like the fact that you are even in the guild, but with your powers it should be easy to take this jewel."

"I'm not interested in some jewel. I'm only here to find the man that helped ruin my life." Said Ace as he threw a charged card into the distance, the card then landed onto the ground and started to glow and explode, lighting the fog showing three men with orange and yellow full body armor. The explosion caused them to look around in confusion since they didn't know where the blast had originated from.

"Assassin members!" said Jonas as he pulled out two guns from under his robe and one of his eyes turned into crosshairs as he fired three bullets that pierced the head of each of the men that stood out in the open, their bodies hit the ground with a loud thump. Ace then ran forward and took out a bow staff as more people in yellow and orange body armor came out with lights and guns. Jonas then started to fire his guns as the darkness was lit up around him from the burst of gun fire. Ace was surrounded by members of the assassins' guild, but wasn't slowing down as he spun his bow staff around, knocking some of them to the ground. He jabbed some of them in their stomachs and hit some others in the head as he fended off some of the guild members.

"Ace, are you ok?" screamed Jonas as he continued to fire his guns and stopping to reload after finishing off his last round of bullets. After not hearing anything from Ace, Jonas's crosshair eye turned green, creating night vision and saw a crowd of assassin's. Jonas took aim and fired his guns killing the members that surrounded Ace. The bodies fell to the ground, while blood flowed from the common head wounds that they now shared courtesy of Jonas and his perfect aim. Jonas then came over to Ace as he stood over one of the bodies while taking off his glove and placing his hand on the assassin's face. Ace felt a shrug go through his body as he absorbed the memories of the dying assassin. Jonas looked on in shock as Ace the removed his hand from the man's face and put his hood up.

"They were after me. How did they know I was coming?!" screamed Ace as he turned towards Jonas clenching his fist.

"Everyone that knew of this jewel heist; we're just Thieve members" Jonas said as he stepped back from Ace.

"Let's continue" Ace continued to walk into the forest as Jonas followed behind him. Jonas had a deep sense of fear from the young mutant that walked in front of him; he was much like his father, "Le Diable Blanc". As they continued to walk, Jonas's phone started to vibrate; He then stopped and allowed Ace to walk farther ahead of him as he answered the phone.

"Yes, Operation: Black Gambit will continue on without further problems. We will not have any more problems." Said Jonas as he hung up the phone and glared towards Ace as he continued to walk. For a few more yards Ace and Jonas arrived in a clearing, the night sky can be seen and the moon shined down on a house in the distance. Ace and Jonas stood with both of their hoods covering their faces as they made their way towards the house. The house was very old, dating back to the days of the slave trade, but that couldn't be seen because it seemed to be in such great condition. The two thieves walked up to the door where two assassin members stood with knives and guns drawn. Ace then pulled off his gloves and ran up to the two guards and put his hands around their throats until they passed out from the energy drain. Ace then let go of them and kicked the door in. The door made a loud slamming sound as the door hit the wall behind it. Ace and Jonas then walked into the home. There was one large main room and a stair case towards the right side of it leading upstairs, but there was no furniture, lights, or any signs that anyone was living there. From the entrance you could also see the second floor of the house and in the center of the main floor was a glass case with a large diamond inside of it. Jonas then smiled as his crosshair eye turned red to see lasers surrounding the case.

"We have laser's don't we." Ace stated as he turned towards Jonas who had a smile on his face. "Take out the sources." Jonas then spread his arms apart and fired his guns taking out two small laser generators that were built into the wall. Ace then walked up to the case and tried to remove the glass cover but couldn't because it was drilled into the bottom part of the case. Ace then put his finger onto one of the screws and charged it with kinetic energy and a few seconds later it exploded, Ace then did this to the three other screws that were on the case. After the screws were removed, Ace then lifted the case and reached for the case but then a card flew through the air and got caught in the bottom of the case causing it to explode. Ace fell back from the blast and regained his footing, he then turned to were Jonas was but saw that he was on the floor convulsing.

"Jonas!" screamed Ace, but his screams didn't go unheard as the sound of footsteps filled the empty room. Ace then looked towards the door to see that they were closed and a figure stood there. Ace took out three cards and charged them and said "I know it's you father, come on out!" The figure then clapped his hands together and the room light up revealing Gambit, with white hair and red eyes and a grim smile on his face.

"Now son, we have been waiting for this for a long time." Gambit then took out his bow staff as he smiled at his son. Ace stood thinking back on how he came to this situation today.

One month ago at the ruins of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, Ace stood looking at the place he once called home. Tears welled up in his eyes as he held an Ace of Spades in his hands and threw it towards where the school used to stand. "I've lost two families now. Once from father and now from Mutant X and I'm the one that showed him around the school." Ace then walked around the campus, the scenery was different from the way it used to be, the school grounds were covered in trucks that now loaded most of the debris from rooms and what made up most of the old school. Scott Summers, the leader of the X-men and also known to the world as Cyclops, looked over the cleaning of the debris so no wandering construction worker found their way down to some of the sub levels of the school. S.H.I.E.L.D agents cleaned the lower levels of the school, which had hazardous materials and computer data that was highly sensitive to the X-men and mutants that were out in the world. Ace stood off in the distance thinking of his childhood and his own home burning down around him. He then climbed a tree that was off in the distance and sat on one of the branches and looked out at the clean-up of the school. 'I have to do something with my life, I have to find a means to better myself now. I just don't know what to do without the X-men. Most of my friends have left to do their own things. Amy has already left for Russia, John is off the grid and so are Jen and Brent, Charles is still around but I don't want to bother him now that his father has that condition. On top of all that, Gambit has shown back up. He is the one that caused all of the problems in my life. I have to find him and make him pay; he has been a thorn in my families' side ever since I was born. It wasn't like he was around to watch me grow up and he destroyed our home, my home and my life. I've lost too much already. I have to go to where it all started.' Ace thought as his heart raced and started to fill with deep and mixed emotion. The sounds of the cleaners moving debris started to dig deeper into Ace's mind, it was as if they were cleaning away some of his innocence as they removed more and more of the building. Ace couldn't bear the pain in his heart anymore and climbed off the tree and walked towards the ruins of the school. Once Ace arrived at the school, he saw his mother, the X-man Rouge, help moving piles of the school and breaking down some of the school that was still standing so they can build the new school. "Ma I need to talk to you." Shouted Ace as he got closer to her.

"Hey Suga' whats goin on?" asked Rouge as she flew down and placed some of the debris in a large pile and walked over to her son.

"Ma, I want to go home." Ace said with confidence in his voice

"What's 'rong? We are home Tyler."

"I'm not talkin bout here, I'm talkin bout back down south."

"Why would you want to do that? We have a wonderful home here." Rouge said as she then turned and saw the ruins of the school and the shock of how her son felt sunk in. She understood why he wanted to go back home, Ace wanted to find his family and to find a place to call home, but she also knew what was waiting for them back there. Rouge knew in her heart that if she brought her son back home that Gambit would be waiting for them and she was afraid for her son. But seeing the expression of displacement and sadness on her son's face diverted the fear and uncertainty of the trip. Rouge turned back to her son and then placed her arms around him and hugged him. "We're goin home Tyler."

Ace and Rouge then walked off, away from the campus and called a taxi to take them airport. While Ace waited for the taxi he ran to look for Charles, but couldn't find him anywhere. After a few moments of looking, Ace ran into Jean Grey, Charles's mother and asked her if she could tell Charles that he has left to go back home and that he will see him once school starts again. Ace then hugged Jean and ran back to his mother as the taxi pulled up at the school. Ace and Rouge got into the taxi and told the driver to take them to the nearest bus station. After an hour drive, Rouge and Ace arrived at the bus station where they then took the bus to Queens and from there took a bus to JFK airport. The two mutants stood online where they bought tickets to head to New Orleans. After a few hours on the plane, neither one spoke to the other, it wasn't out of anger, but out of fear of saying something they regret like having second thoughts about heading to the place that caused them so much pain. After the long plane ride, Ace and Rouge got off the plane and rented a car that they could use, they drove into the city and then deeper to the outskirts where they found the ruins of a burned down home. Both got out of the car and stood side by side in front of what was once their home. Memories drowned both mutants' minds as a cold shiver ran up Rogue's spine as she got a chill.

"Ma, leave me here." Ace said noticing his mom's unease about being there.

"Now why would I do that?" Rogue said trying to play off her feelings.

"I know you're feeling frazzled just by looking at the rubble. You can go on….I'd like some time to take this all in."

Sensing her son's intentions she clenches her fists as she kisses the top of Ace's head.

"Hon, I'm going to find a hotel we can stay at while we are down here. Make sure your cell phone is with you and on. Please call if you need me for anything." Rouge said hesitantly as she drove off with tears in her eyes, feeling that she was leaving her son behind for the last time. Ace looked at the ruins of his first home. The land hadn't been touched since the day it had burned down. Ace looked at the tree that were he used to have a tire swing, he looked at it for a while and saw an image of himself playing on the swing with the other kids in the neighborhood. It was all before his powers had manifested, so he saw himself playing tag and football with other kids. Ace smiled and walked up through the dream like illusions and started to be filled with anger when he turned back to the house and saw the old home burn up.

'You took my life away Gambit!' thought Ace as he walked closer to the house. As Ace reflected on his life, three men came out of the bushes and trees wearing black robes. Ace got ready to fight them and had his bow staff out but the three men walked up with a card in one's hand.

"Mr. Le Beau, we invite you to join your family legacy." One of the men said while handing Ace the card

"My family?" Ace had a confusing look on his face while he took the card from the man

"We will await your response." Said an elderly man's voice

Ace looked down at the card that had a location written on it, but as Ace looked up from the card, the three men were gone. Ace then pulled out his cell phone and called his mother to come pick him up. After a little while, Rouge arrived and picked up her son from the ruins of their old home. Rouge looked at her son, who had a look of concern on his face. "Tyler, is everything ok?" asked Rouge as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I really don't want to talk about it. I know it was my idea to come here, but I don't want to talk about it right now." Ace said with his head down with many thoughts running through them. Soon the two arrived at a hotel, in which Rouge had reserved rooms for them. The two went up to the rooms and settled in after a long day, since it wasn't night out Rouge stayed up in her room on the phone with some of the X-men to see how the construction was going, while Ace stayed up looking at the card that was handed to him. 'My family… I have to go' thought Ace as he placed the card into his pocket and looked out of the window to see the sun about to set. 'I'll wait till later and leave'

Many hours later the moon was high into the sky and Ace climbed out of the window of his hotel window and ran out towards the city. 'I'm sorry mom, but I have to know.' The city lights were bright and people crowded the street. Ace walked around trying to look for the location on the card, as he wandered the street Ace saw a few younger mutants running out of a convenience store. Ace waited till the store owner came out of the store with a gun brandished and pointed towards the younger mutants, Ace pulled out one of his cards and threw it at the man causing it to blow the man off his feet and to the ground. The younger mutants then stopped and ran over to Ace.

"Thank you sir" said one of the younger mutants while holding some food in his arms

"It's no problem, but you have to return that money." Said Ace as he looked at the two younger mutants, the younger mutants then took a closer look at Ace and noticed his red eyes.

"You're the one the guild was talking about, the one that would take over." Said one of the younger mutants

"What are you talkin' about?" Ace looked with confusion on his face as the younger mutants grabbed his arms and pulled him so he would walk with them. "Where are you guys taking me?" The young mutants lead Ace into an abandoned building and to a metal door with a hand scanner on it.

"This is we're your suppose to be." Said one of the young mutants

"How do you know all of this?" Ace then looked down at the card with the location on it and it had the same symbol on. "I know what I have to do." Ace then put his hand on the scanner and the metal door opened and revealed a large room and inside were people with black robes standing in a line with a black carpet leading to a chair with an elderly man in it. Ace took a deep breath and walked along the carpet, looking around as he walked and notice walls full of paintings and rare artifacts. After a few moments, Ace made his way across the room and stood in front of a large, highly decorated chair with an elderly man sitting in it. "I was promised to hear about my legacy."

The old man then stood up and looked down at Ace and said "You are looking at it." Ace stood in awe at the statement the man had made started to sink in. "You are the new Prince of Thieves, Tyler LeBeau, my grandson." Ace's heart started to race and a new found emotional pride filled him. "Now son, take your place on the throne." Ace's Grandfather then stepped down and allowed Ace to pass him, Ace then made his way up and took a seat in the chair. All of a sudden, all of the members of the guild that were in the room started to shout, "Prince of Thieves, Prince of Thieves." As the crowd erupted into frenzy, one of the men walked up to Ace and introduced himself.

"I am Elder and I will show you the ways of the Thieves guild. I will teach you everything you will need to know about you family legacy and what it now means to your life." Said Elder as Ace got off of the Chair and walked into a separate room. Inside the room was a large library that was filled to the top with old books and jewels. "It will take time for you, but I will groom you to be the new King of Thieves, like I have all the others, like I was training your father until he abandoned the guild. I trained your grandfather and his father and his father before him."

"My father seems to leave any family he has." Ace said with contempt in his voice as he sat at a small desk in the middle of the large library. "How old are you anyway?"

"I am a mutant just like you. I have the power to see into the future and I made a deal with the goddess Candra in order to extend my life so I can help the Thieves guild for all eternity. Now it's my duty to train you and look over you." Said the Elder as he placed a large book in front of Ace. "Your training starts now."

'Sorry Ma…' Ace thought to himself as he took a seat in front a pile of books 'But I need to do this to know who I am…and where I am going.'

As Ace opened the book and started to sink into the history of the guild, outside the door, Tyler's grandfather was on phone and said "Operation: Black Gambit, is now in effect."

The minutes turned into hours and the hours turned into days, as all of this time Ace trained in the art of thievery. He learned to be stealthier, to be more cunning and to be more of a weapon than what he learned at the Xavier institute. As time passed, his mind started to grow and become filled with the history of his family and their enemies, the Assassin's Guild and as his mind started to grow his body started to grow. Ace worked his body to the max, training with more experienced members of the guild and going out on missions and then the day finally came where Ace was told of the biggest mission of his life. Tyler's grandfather came into his room while Ace was doing one-armed push-ups. "Tyler, we have found the red diamond."

"What does that mean to me?" Ace said as continued to power his way through the push-ups.

"The red diamond was one of the rarest jewels in the world." Said the Elder as stood over Ace

"Send Jonas and Max on this one. They would be great for the mission."

"But you don't understand I have Intel that your father is after the same jewel."

Ace then stopped his push-ups and grabbed his guild outfit. "Get Jonas; we are going after this jewel and after Gambit." The Elder followed Ace out and grabbed Jonas and walked out of the command center and headed out to the docks. At the docks, there were a few guards which Ace sunk up on and touched them to knock them out.

"Master Tyler, are you ready for this?" said the Elder as he helped untie one of the smaller speedboats.

"I've been ready." As Ace said that, a thick fog rolled in and surrounded Ace, Jonas and the Elder. "Let's go!"

Now as Ace stood in front of Gambit, each of them ready to fight the other. Ace threw the three cards at Gambit as he threw three of his own. The cards collided in the air, the explosion released a pink light and a shock threw back both of the mutants. Ace then stood up as fast as he could but not fast enough as Gambit hit Ace across the face with his bow staff. The force of the hit made Ace lose some of his teeth and spit out blood. Ace tried to shake off the hit and stood up as Gambit charged the glass case and threw it towards Ace. As the case was in the air, it exploded and glass shards hit Ace. The heat and sharpness of the glass pierced Ace causing him intense pain. Ace stood up, his vision blurred by the pain he had endured. Gambit started to spin his bow staff around and around, Ace stood uneasy as he watched the display until Gambit caught Ace off guard and hit him a few times with his bow staff while it glowed, each hit to Ace was a small kinetic burst. During this entire onslaught Ace only thought about the X-men and his deep friendships he has formed over the year. Ace then fell to the ground and saw the image of his father stand over him as he said "I'll let you live if you say uncle." Ace then glared at Gambit and was about to accept his fate, as Gambit charged his bow staff and raised it to land the finishing blow. Suddenly a crashing sound was heard nearby. Gambit looks back to see the speed boat Ace rode in crashing through the wall. The boat hits Gambit and carries him through another wall into the next room.

'What the?!' Ace thought as he slowly raised his head to see the smoldering hole in the wall where Gambit was thrown through.

He struggles onto one knee when he covers his mouth to cough. He pulls his hand away to see blood.

"Take it easy hon…mommas got this" a woman's voice said as Rogue floats in through the first hole made by the speedboat.

"Ma?" Ace said surprised and relieved simultaneously as Rogue fully enters the room and descends onto the floor. "How did you find me?"

"You don't live in this town for as long as I have and not gain some reliable Intel. And what were you thinking sneakin' out like that huh!!" Rogue screamed as Ace could tell she is holding back tears.

"I'm sorry Ma…I've just been feelin' out of place of late and…." Ace said trying to explain "With the Xavier Institute gone I wanted a family."

"Tyler…don't you see?" Rogue said as she turned to her son "You do have a family. It might not be big…but you and me….that's all the family we need."

Ace smiles at his mom as they both get teary eyed when a pink light shines through the wall.

"Anna? Is that you?" Gambit said "How wonderful, now our whole family is hea'"

The speedboat is shot from the hole in the wall leaving a pink trail of kinetic energy as it sped through the air toward Ace. Rogue not wasting a second steps in front of Ace and punches the speedboat in midair causing it to explode on impact. The explosion emits a bright light that blinds both Ace and Rogue.

"Argh" Rogue yelled as she squinted her eyes to see but can only see a bright white light.

A dark figure comes into focus as it jumps at her. Rogue has just enough time to raise her arm to block Gambit's staff from connecting with her face. However, Gambit's strength allows him to force Rogue to fly backwards despite the female mutant blocking the attack. Rogue is thrown back until she hits another wall creating cracks and a dent into the cement wall. Rogue grimaces as she feels pain throughout her body. Gambit quickly dashes toward her, spinning his kinetically infused staff like a baton before he thrusts it at her. Rogue narrowly avoids the attack as the staff pierces the wall and becomes lodged in it. Seeing an opening, Rogue punches Gambit in the gut causing the mutant to spit up saliva as he gets the wind knocked out of him. The female mutant follows up with an uppercut that sends Gambit across the room. Gambit hits the floor and rolls until he composes himself and gets back on his feet.

'Whoa…' Ace thought as he sees his mom in action.

Rogue gets off the wall and flies at her once beloved husband. As she gets closer and closer, all Gambit does is wipe a stray white hair from his face. Rogue cocks her arm back to deliver a killing blow when she suddenly feels something. Her eyes widen as she slows down and grabs her throat with her hands. She begins to gag and choke as she crashed onto the floor.

"MA!!" Ace yelled as he tried to get up back falls back on his knee from the injuries given to him earlier.

Gambit walks up to a struggling Rogue who is rolling on the floor as she continued to choke.

"Oh I'm sorry mon cherry, I know I shouldn't have turned the air around you into poison" Gambit said as he stood over her "But you were actin' like a maniac. What else was I supposed to do?"

Rogue looked up at Gambit with red, glossy eyes as she struggled for air. She took her hands away from her throat and started to remove her glove slowly with trembling fingers.

"No no no" Gambit said as he took his foot and began to crush one of her hands underneath his foot causing Rogue to let out a weak yelp "That wouldn't be very nice"

Gambit crouches down until his cauldron black face is over hers. His red eyes looking into Rogue's as he smiles.

"For so long I wasn't able to show my love to you, and when you finally gained control of your powers then we began our lives together, consummating our relationship with a kiss." Gambit said as he took a breath "Why not do so again? We can start our family again…this time…in death"

A purple gas begins to leek from Gambit's mouth as he closed his eyes and honed in on Rogue's mouth to give her a kiss. Helpless, Rogue begins to tear as Gambit gets closer and closer to her lips. Suddenly Gambit's eyes open as he freezes up. Rogue's eyes fixate passed Gambit's face as she sees Ace standing over them, his hands grabbing onto either side of Gambit's head.

"You first!!" Ace yelled as the energy pulsed through his body.

Ace felt the life energy and powers of Gambit flow into him. Gambit screamed as he felt his life fading away. As Ace held Gambit longer and longer, Ace's hair started to turn all white, while his skin started to turn darker, but the power was too much for the teen's body and he let go and fell to the floor. Gambit became dazed as he also fell to the ground and off of Rogue. With Gambit's powers neutralized the air in Rogue's lungs returned to normal and she gasped for air. She coughed for a few seconds as she sat up to see her son passed out. Dust suddenly falls from the ceiling as Rogue looks around to see Gambit's staff still lodged into one of the walls. But she notices a corrosive substance stemming from the staff has been eating away at the cement and causing the support for the house to wither.

"Hon….hon wake up" Rogue said as she crawled to her son before standing up and grabbing him in her arms.

Rogue looks down at the unconscious Gambit and contemplates what to do with him. But a chunk of ceiling starts to fall and the support is growing increasingly unstable.

'Shit, no time' Rogue thought as she took her son and flew out of the building just as it collapsed into nothing. She turns around to see the rubble which brings back flashes of how their family house was that fateful night many years ago.

Rogue looked down at Ace and then moved forward towards New York. After a few hours, the building was covered in members of both the Thieves and Assassins guilds. In the center of the room stood Ace's grandfather and a mysterious woman, "Bella Donna, this was your idea. You even killed our Elder for this mission." Said Ace's Grandfather furiously as the thieves' guild members took out some of their weapons.

"Well he was supposed to kill Gambit, but that didn't happen. We can't even find the traitor's body. He was the boy that was suppose to unite us by killing that Cajun rat, but he didn't." said Bella Donna as some of the members drew some of their weapons. As the guild took aim and became ready to fight, Gambit stood outside on a branch of a tree looking at the sky.

"One day we will finish this, one of us will not survive." Said Gambit as the sounds of gun fire and screams could be heard from the area below, now filled with fighting of both guilds. "I will see you soon." Gambit then jumped off the tree and walked into the darkness as Rogue carried Ace off into the distance, towards his next step on his path in life.


	4. Sooner Or Later

**Chapter 4: Sooner or Later**

The bar smelled of stale beer and Marlboro reds while the beat up jukebox is blaring "Sweet Home Alabama." John rolled his eyes and stepped into the truck stop bar. He's underage but has a look about him that causes no one to question him. He made sure his gloves were tightly in place and approached the bar. The barmaid looks about twenty years old with tight Levi jeans, a low cut red tank top, and curly blonde hair. John flashes a smile at her.

"What will it be darlin'?" she asked him while leaning over the bar.

"A beer's fine; Budweiser..." John replied. "…just want the bottle."

"Coming right up, sweetie," she said pulling one out from under the bar. She twisted the cap open, and handed it to him.

"I'm John by the way. What do they call you baby?"

"Trisha," she answered throwing him a seductive glance.

"Well Trisha, what time do you get off?"

"Not until four, if I'm lucky. There always seems to be some asshole you can't get out of here when the sun comes up."

He laughed and surveys the patrons. Most of them are men in their forties, wearing flannel shirts, torn jeans with burning cigarettes hanging from their mouths. Some are bent over pool tables while others are watching sports on the old televisions.

"I can see what you mean."

"Listen, I'm gonna take my break. Why don't you meet me out back?"

"Sounds good to me," he said, watching her walk out from behind the bar and through the back door. Not wanting to be too conspicuous, he made sure no one was paying attention and exited through the front. He walked around to the bar and saw her leaning against the wall.

"I only got ten minutes, but I'll make it worth your while," she said.

"Fine by me," he said feeling his heart pound in his chest. Feeling like a dog in heat, he pressed up against her. They began to kiss furiously not stopping to come up for air. She pulled away from the kiss and began to nibble on his neck. He groaned and closed his eyes; he felt a shudder run through his body. He wasn't able to explain it, but Kelly came to mind just then. He remembered that time in drama class when she projected his less than pure fantasies for everyone to see. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You aren't like anyone that came in here before, you know that?" Trisha said interrupting his thoughts as her hand slid down his stomach.

"I'm probably like no one you've ever met," he said coyly and put his hands around her hips. Their bodies were dangerously close, and he could feel his alpha male instincts kicking in. He wanted to take charge and just have his way with her then and there. Not caring that they were outside behind a shitty bar, he reached his hand up her shirt and growled. Becoming more aggressive, he almost tore the shirt in half as he continued kissing her.

"TRISHA!" they heard a man's voice call out.

"Damn it that's Don, my boss. I better get back before he kills me. Shit, what am I gonna do about my shirt?"

"Here, take mine, I'll just wear my coat," he said, taking it off and handing it to her.

"TRISHA GODDAMN IT I'M NOT PAYIN YOU TO FUCK AROUND!" Don hollered.

"You're a lifesaver," she said, grabbing the shirt quickly and slipping it over her. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

She gave him a quick kiss and ran back into the bar. John smiled, pleased with himself despite the annoyance at the interruption; he walked back into the bar. She winked at him and then began helping other customers. John grabbed his beer and walked over to an empty pool table. He set up the balls and grabbed a pool stick off of the wall. After everything was set up to his satisfaction, he leaned over to take the first shot. As he tried to figure out the best move to make, his instincts told him trouble was coming. Feeling a presence behind him, he wheeled around quickly, still clutching the pool stick. He was facing a man about 6'5 who was wearing a very angry expression on his face.

"Can I help you?" John asked with a snarl, clutching the stick so tight it almost snapped in his hands.

"I don't appreciate when people flirt with my woman," he said taking a step closer.

"Your woman? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid asshole, two of my buddies that were here earlier told me that you were hittin' on Trisha and I don't take to kindly too that."

_Oh fuck. _

John shot a pleading look at Trisha, but she just stared at them with a stunned expression on her face.

"Listen, your friends probably just misread the situation, I just got a beer from her."

The man laughed and John saw out of the corner of his eye a few guys get up from their tables. He began to feel nervous and eyed the door to gauge how far it was.

"You think you can just roll up in here and be a big shot? Time to prove it..."

The guys that joined the aggressor began to form a circle around them, causing John's anxiety to become full blown panic. Trisha's boyfriend threw a punch at John, but he was able to duck.

_I need to get the fuck out of here, there has to be a way out._

The men started to close in on John, amplifying the terror. His breathing became quick and shallow as he began to hyperventilate. They began hitting him and he fell to the floor with a cry. There was only one way out and he had hoped to God it would never have come to this. His primal nature overcoming his better judgment, he ripped off his gloves and sank his claws into the first leg he could. The man cried out and began to bleed profusely.

"What the fuck are you!" Trisha's boyfriend yelled in a mixture of anger and fear. Trisha screamed and hid under the bar. John did not acknowledge what the man had said to him and instead lunged at the bleeding drunk. He pinned him to the ground and began to beat him on the face. Due to his heightened strength, John's blows caused his face to shatter and eventually killed him. John turned to face the other men, who were now backing up towards the door. John went after the boyfriend next, springing on him so quickly he wasn't able to react.

"No, please!" the guy pleaded, but John had no humanity at this point. He picked him up like the flailing man weighed nothing and tossed him across the bar. He smacked into the jukebox, causing glass to fly in a million directions. He writhed on the floor in pain, unable to pick himself up. John grabbed his throat, and applied the pressure so much that he snapped his neck. He felt the man go limp and dropped his lifeless body on the floor. The other bar patrons ran out of the bar for their lives and John finally snapped back to his senses.

"Trisha?" he asked weakly, approaching the bar.

"Stay away from me, you goddamn freak! Murderer!" she yelled, cowering in the corner.

"I'm not going to hurt you, please..."

"You killed them!" He began to walk towards her so he could comfort her, but she grabbed a glass bottle and smashed it. "Don't come any closer!"

John's heart sank as he looked at her and noticed the expression in her eyes.

_She thinks I'm a monster...I am._

John's adrenaline pumping, he turns his back on the crying, screaming barmaid and flees out of the bar into the night. He ran for miles, not looking back once. He was a couple of towns away from the bar in a matter of minutes, pushing his body faster and faster. As he ran, thoughts flashed through his mind; thoughts of being trapped. Horrible recollections as life being the son of Sabertooth and Mystique (he never bothered calling them mom and dad) began to play before his eyes and he heard himself screaming.

"STOP! MAKE IT STOP!"

The images tormenting him and his body finally giving out after running for miles and collapsing in a forest. He panted as his chest heaved painfully, and he curled up on the ground. He clenched his eyes shut and began scratching his arms, begging for a release that would not come. There is no way to separate from your mind or memories, no matter how much torture they put you through.

"_You are so pathetic...so weak. How can I even call you my son?" Sabertooth said in disgust, shaking his head. His gaze was upon a large cage in the basement of his house. Inside was a ten year old John, banging on the bars and circling the perimeter of his cell like a trapped dog._

"_Please daddy, let me out! I'll make you proud, just let me out!" He tried to pull apart the bars to no avail, causing Sabertooth to laugh coldly._

"_No, I think some time in here will teach you the proper discipline and obedience you obviously lack. Maybe it will give you the opportunity to reflect on your failures."_

"_Don't leave me down here in the dark again! I can't be down here!" John pleaded, banging harder on the bars. He wanted to cry, but knew that showing any tear would worsen his punishment and possibly enrage his father more. _

_Mystique came down the stairs, and stood next to her lover. She watched John's anguish but instead of feeling any kind of affection or motherly instinct, she watched with indifference._

"_Will you join me upstairs?" she asked, touching his arm with a come hither look._

"_I'll join you in a minute," he said, kissing her before she sauntered up the stairs. He turned around to face his son again before leaving with hatred in his eyes. He turned off the lights and walked out, ignoring his son's cries_

_Two months later..._

_John wanted water desperately, but the chain around his neck wasn't long enough. Sabertooth purposely placed the bowl a few inches out of reach, and he watched the spectacle with amusement. John growled, driven mad by thirst he pulled himself harder, being denied any nourishment for a week._

"_You are not a predator, but a stray dog. You possess no self control or higher thinking, making you no better than a mutt on the street. You'll never accomplish anything and no woman will ever want such a sniveling puppy."_

_John ignored his father's taunts and continued the impossible task of obtaining water. Reduced to nothing more than an animal, he had given up trying to reason with his father or thinking about anything but survival. Pure instinct drove him and only his physical needs concerned him. Sabertooth watched for a moment more and then kicked the bowl before leaving. Water spilled all over the floor and the bowl went flying into the wall. _

Startled, John's eyes shot open and he sat up from the ground. It is morning and the sun is creeping up on the horizon. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that he wasn't physically back in Sabertooth's house and slowly picked himself up off of the ground. He examined his hands, which were covered entirely in dried blood. He noticed that his jacket and pants were saturated with the reddish brown substance as well and he snarled in annoyance.

"Just fuckin' wonderful," he said out loud.

He began walking down the path that cut through the woods until he stopped at a spring. He quickly pulled off his stained clothes, and noticed an old campfire at the edge of the spring. He dropped is clothing on top of it, added some timber that was in the vicinity, and pulled out his lighter. As the clothes and wood burned, he slowly walked into the water to clean himself off. He scrubbed furiously at his hands first, accidentally scratching himself a few times as he washed away the blood. After it was removed to his satisfaction, he began to wash the rest of his body, unfazed by the freezing temperature of the water.

'I need to find some clothes…'he thought to himself when he was finished bathing and utilized his acute hearing to pick up any signs.

_Bingo. _

His senses picked up two voices approaching, a male and a female on a morning hike. He crouched amongst the trees until they got close enough and then lunged at the guy. He was a few years older than John and not much bigger. The hiker's eyes widened in surprised and his companion froze in fear. He pinned the frightened man to the ground and snarled,

"Your clothes, now!"

He could feel his adrenaline rising again and he strongly had the urge to kill and take what he needed.

'No goddamn it!'

He fought off his instincts and let his victim get up, who quickly began to disrobe except for his boxers.

"It's freezing out here; what am I going to do?" he asked nervously.

"I don't fucking know, now hand them over!"

The shivering hiker cautiously handed over his clothes, and John ripped them out of his hands.

"You saw nothing," he said before taking off into the woods. When he reached a far enough distance, he quickly put on the pants, Rugby shirt and jacket. His senses picked up movement a few yards away and he scanned the area. Before he could blink, four hooded figures jumped down from the trees and stood before him. He eyed them suspiciously as they approached him, but he kept his temper in check.

"John Creed, or should I say Wild Child, correct?" the group's leader asked him.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Not important however what is important is that we found you. Not easy by the way."

"Get to the point," John said impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We are members of a...special group, you could say. And let's just say we're extending an invitation. Consider it an honor."

"Listen, I don't have time for this. I don't know how you found me or know who I am, but I'm not joining your stupid club so get lost."

The leader laughed, followed by the others.

"Oh, I think you misunderstand us Wild Child. We aren't a "stupid club" as you say; we're an organization of creatures just like yourself."

"Like me?"

"Yes, creatures that don't deny their natural instincts, but embrace it. True survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. With us, you can unleash the inner beast and do what you do best."

_The inner beast...._

"You're talking about...killing people?"

"Of course, and why not? Humans are weak, nothing more than cattle. Why are we to be the ones shunned and treated as inferior? You join my pack, and nothing you want will ever be denied. It's time to be appreciated for who you really are, John. No need to suppress it any longer"

'But who am I, really? Am I nothing more than a beast, a rabid dog? Is killing the only destiny this life is offering me?'

"Who are you, exactly?"

"You will find out soon enough, we'll be in touch."

Before John could respond, the figures disappeared through the woods as quickly as they came. He was more confused than ever, and leaned against a tree to think. He looked at his hands, the same hands that have taken lives.

'What am I, man or animal? Do I belong anywhere?'

Mentally and physically drained, John walked out of the woods and towards the next town; towards a world that neither accepted him nor understood him.


	5. A Beautiful Lie

**Young X-Men: Crossroads**

**Chapter Five: A Beautiful Lie**

The urban sounds of Detroit filled the air. Sirens and gun fire reverberated off of buildings while children playing in the streets mixed with the sounds of violence. Two people stood on Comerica Tower. High speed winds pushed against them as they looked out to the urban landscape. Both individuals wore long black leather jackets which have a large yellow X on the back and each shoulder has an X over the symbol of S.H.I.E.L.D. One of the individuals is a male in his mid-teens; he has a set of binoculars and is looking into the building across from them.

"There are two men by the door. There also seems to be more of them in the second room." The male teen said as he put the binoculars away. "It's your call; which room do you want to take first?"

The second person standing there is a female with dark hair and dark eyes. She was part of the Young X-men and was known as Level. Now without her powers she is simply Mary.

"Let's take the second room. That is most likely where the man we're looking for is. We don't have much Intel on what is going on, but this is our mission. Let's move Ethan." Mary said as she took a few steps back, took a running start and jumped off the building.

Ethan followed shortly after Mary was off the building. As they fell towards the ground, Ethan opened up his hands and fired small fireworks which broke the glass of the second building. They used the opening to enter the building which had about twenty men with guns all pointed at the two teens. The glass hit the floor as Mary rolled from the window with two small guns drawn and fired them at the men in the room. Ethan came into the room a few seconds later with his arms spread out and his hands firing small fireworks into the room, blinding the thugs who fired at the teens. A door at the end of the room opened and more men poured into the room. Ethan ran at them firing concussive blast from his hands, knocking out or killing some of the thugs. The room filled with smoke from the blasts from Ethan. Mary and Ethan used it to get past some of the remaining thugs and into a large office with a large man sitting in a chair.

"Well, you have managed to get passed my men. I'm kind of sorry that I wasted all of this money on them." Said the large man as he got up from the chair and started to walk over to the two teens.

"Under the jurisdiction of the X.S.E and S.H.I.E.L.D you are under arrest." Mary said as she held out a badge with the X-covered S.H.I.E.L.D logo on it. The large man laughed as he continued to walk towards the two. Ethan's hands started to glow and an uneasy feeling swept over both teens.

"If you're here to arrest me, you're still out of your jurisdiction. The X.S.E only deals with mutant problems. I am no mutant, little ones. Yes I may be a large man, but that is because back in my day I loved a few more cheeseburgers than I should have." The large man laughed as he put his hands on his stomach and let out a big laugh.

The feeling of unease went away as Ethan relaxed and his hands stopped glowing. Mary, however, was still on edge. Not having her powers in front of an opponent that outclassed her in size and strength kept her alert. Mary pointed her gun at the man and prepared to fire it.

"What are you doing?" asked the man in confusion as he saw the gun pointed towards him.

"Mark 'Le Grande' Namara, you are under arrest. Now stand down and this won't get ugly." Mary said as she looked down the barrel of the gun towards Mark. The sweat dripped from his head as he started to feel that the girl was going to kill him.

"I'm not a mutant. Now get out of here!"

"You are a mutant, now stand down!"

Mary's finger started to shake as she rested her finger on the trigger, but a feeling came over her body as her vision started to blur and she started to become nauseous. As she pulled the trigger, the bullet went off target as Mary fell to the ground. Her head started to throb and her heart began to beat faster. It was as if her body was going to explode as each of her organs shook and pulsed. Ethan started to drool and his muscles started to burn and give out as he fell to his knees. Mark ran out of the room and started down the long corridor as Ethan regained his strength and picked Mary up off of the ground. Soon, the pain started to pass over the both of them.

"What just happened?" Ethan asked as he helped Mary to the chair that Mark had once been sitting in.

Mary started to focus more as she regained more control over herself and said,

"He can control infrasound. It is released from his body when he gets nervous. It wouldn't be bad, but in large dosages it can cause muscle failure and in some extreme cases it can cause the organs of the human body to explode."

Mary sat to catch her breath as Ethan left the room and headed down the corridor after Mark. Mary looked as Ethan stormed out, feeling that she has become useless. All of her training with the X-men and all her self-worth were broken down on a mission she had willingly accepted. As Ethan followed the trail of people convulsing and throwing up, left behind by Mark, his hands started to glow. As he reached the roof of the building, Mark stood on the ledge looking over the city. The view of the metropolis is breathtaking, but couldn't truly be taken in because of the dark situation at hand.

Ethan's hands glowed in the dark as he pointed them toward Mark.

"Put your hands in the air you fuck!" shouted Ethan as his anger grew within him. Mark turned, smiling at Ethan as he scoped out his opponent.

"I'll do as you say."

Mark started to put his hands in that air, but as he did that Ethan started to feel sick and dizzy. Those feelings grew more and more inside Ethan. He fired a concussive blast at Mark in order to distract him, but the blast deflected off of him as the infrasound grew around him. Ethan collapsed onto the ground as everything around him grew dark and his body started to go into a seizure.

"Having fun little boy?" Mark said as he started to kick Ethan while he was on the ground laughing the whole time.

Meanwhile back in the office…

Mary sat in the chair reflecting on the life she once had. She had always seen herself as the outcast of the X-men she was part of. She was always a mysterious person to everyone else and even to herself.

'I'm not an X-man anymore. I'm my own person and I have to find my own path.' thought Mary as she stood up from the chair, took out her gun, and ran down the same corridor that Ethan had taken.

The alarms sounded and the room was filled with a red light. Mary ran down the hall and stood behind a corner taking aim as some men came up the hall.

'Now it's time.'

Mary dropped a small red ball on the ground as three men stopped and looked at it in confusion. A small timer on it flashed from five to zero. It created a blast of white light which blinded the men in the hall and gave Mary time to run and conserve some of her ammo. Mary made her way to the top of the building, opening the door slowly and taking notice to her surroundings. She noticed Mark kicking Ethan as he was having a seizure, blood and vomit covered the ground and Mark wasn't letting up.

'I was wrong about this guy's mutant power. He can control infrasound, but not only when he is afraid, but at anytime. He was playing with us before, hoping that he could immobilize us before allowing time for him to escape. I only have one shot and I have to make it count, otherwise he will use his power against me.' Mary took aim with her gun as Mark continued to kick Ethan on the ground.

"Anything to say? No? Well I'm growing bored with you anyway." Mark said as he sent one last hard kick into Ethan's chest, causing him to vomit on Mark's white shoes. "Now I have to kill you."

Mark bent over to pick Ethan up off the ground, but a small ping sound could be heard as a bullet flew through the air. "Wha…" said Mark, but before he could finish his statement, the bullet flew through his left eye and out the back of his head, his brains splattering on the ground next to Ethan. Mary came from behind the door, ran up to Ethan, dragged him over to an air vent and propped him up so he could breathe and come to.

"Ethan, I'm going to call in the copter and we'll take you back to base." Said Mary as she took out her radio and called in the chopper.

After a few minutes, the silence in the air broke as the chopper could be heard and three X.S.E members dropped from the craft with a stretcher and medical supplies.

"Are you ok?" asked one of the X.S.E members as he inspected Mary with a small tool that emitted a light and scanned the vital signs of the victim.

"I'm fine; just get Junior Agent Starsmore out of here." Said Mary as a second chopper came and dropped a small rope ladder down. Mary grabbed it and was pulled up by two X.S.E members that were on the helicopter. Once Mary was in, she strapped herself in and took a deep breath of relief since the mission was over. After an hour's flight to an undisclosed location, the helicopter landed onto a pad with members of the X.S.E waiting to greet Mary for a job well done. Once the helicopter landed, Mary exited the ship deep in thought over the mission that had just taken place. As she walked towards a door located at the end of the run, a man stood with an eye patch and graying hair. As Mary made her way over to him, he cast a shadow over her; but she didn't hesitate to walk right passed him, into the command center and down a flight of stairs till she reached an elevator. Once Mary made it onto the elevator the intercom came on with a voice of an older man.

"Mary, get your mutie-ass down to my office once you get off this elevator. You have to explain yourself."

Mary glared as she continued to ride down until it reached level one hundred. Mary exited the elevator and was surrounded by the sounds of buzzing, a room full of screens and people dressed in similar uniforms walked around her with clipboards and headsets. Mary made her way down the hallway until she reached the end where there was a small scanner. She placed her hand on it and it scanned her fingerprints and handprint. After it completed the scan, another small scanner came out of the wall. Mary knelt down and opened her eye wide as the small computer scanned her eye. After a few seconds, Mary stood up and a secret door opened from behind the wall and Mary proceeded to walk into it. The room was a large office with a cherry wood desk and a wall full of monitors. In a chair behind the desk sat a man with the eye patch, known to the world as Nick Fury.

"You killed our only lead to the MGH cartel in this district, you know that?" screamed Fury as he stood up from behind his desk and slammed his hands on it.

"He was going to kill Agent Starsmore sir. I had the shot and I took it, you wouldn't have hesitated either." Mary glared as she looked at Nick Fury.

"You're right; I wouldn't have hesitated on the killing shot, but I also knew what was at stake here." Fury sat back down on his chair and hit a small button. The images on the monitors showed children and adults addicted to and taking Mutant Growth Hormone. People running into traffic and getting hit by cars because they believe the power they received was invincibility, while others fall off of roofs believing that they can fly. The images show people outside hauled around flaming trash cans, because they ran out of money spending all of it on the drug. As the time passes on and on, it shows people committing crimes with their new found powers.

"You looking at this girl? Because if you're not, then you're not getting what just happened. You just allowed one of our leads to die and now more people will suffer. I picked you to be part of this lovely, ever-expanding organization, but you seem to be too short sighted. Yes I care about my men in duty, but there is a bigger picture here Mary and you're not getting what that means." Fury sat back down in his chair and rotated it towards the monitors, lit a cigar and taking notice to what had transpired. Mary stood with anger growing inside her, but not able to say anything about how she really felt. Fury sat for a few more moments and waved his hand from behind the chair as he said "Nothing to say girl? If not, get out of my office, NOW!"

Mary lowered her head and walked out of the office and down the hidden hallway.

'He was right, I allowed myself to be caught up in everything. I haven't found my place in the world. Ever since I became human I haven't done anything with my life. I haven't seen my mother in so long I can't remember and my friends on the X-men have more problems to deal with now. I didn't even say goodbye to them, I really should have when I had the chance.' Mary thought as she stood on the elevator with the music droning in the background. The elevator stopped on level 10, which is the medical wing of the building. Mary walked down the hallway and approached a nurse holding a clipboard. "Excuse me; I need to know where they are keeping Ethan Starsmore?"

"Oh! Ethan Starsmore…Ethan Starsmore, umm? Here it is. He is in room 385. It's right down the hall." The nurse said as she flipped through the stacks of paper on her clipboard.

"Thank you." Mary said as she walked down the hall but was interrupted by the nurse.

"I need you to keep it short because visiting hours are almost over." Said the Nurse as she walked up to Mary and placing her hand on her shoulder.

"I won't be long." Mary replied back; walking into the room, where Ethan was being kept. The room had machines hooked up to the teenage boy. Mary walked over, pulled up a chair and sat next to Ethan as the machines hooked up to him hummed and buzzed. "I know your can't hear me, but you know that you're the only friend I have and I don't have anywhere to go. I left all my friends behind and came here to find a new life, but I don't know what to do anymore.'

'_Mary! I can hear you! You know that you're wrong, kind of.'_ thought Ethan as he lay in the bed

"Ethan! I'm glad that you're ok. You're the only friend that I have in the world right now. I just don't know what to do now." Said Mary as she held Ethan's hand as the machines continued to run.

'_We have a plan remember Mary and we have to stick to it. I'll be ok, but after I'm cleared, I'm going to head to Westchester and continue what we started'_ thought Ethan _'You have to continue your part of the mission, Mary'_

Mary looked at Ethan, stood from her chair, walked over towards the door. As she reached the door, she turned towards Ethan and said,

"I'll help you find her while I'm here, I'll just have to learn to overcome all of these feelings."

Mary left, walked down the hall and went back onto the elevator; her thoughts were of overcoming her own self doubt and her place in the world.

'I know what I have to do'

The confidence with Mary started to grow as the elevator descended down until it reached the bottom of the base. As it stopped, Mary ran down the hallway passed all of the people holding clipboards and headsets and walked up to the small computer scanner on the wall. She conducted the same process as before and once more Mary was in the room she saw Nick Fury sitting in the chair and on the monitors behind the desk were images of the friends she grew up with and some unfamiliar faces to her. Mary looked confused as she saw Nick Fury come from behind the desk and walked up to Mary. She clenched her fist and smiled as he walked towards her.

"You know that you're the one that brought me here. I didn't choose to be one of your soldiers, but I took this position because I had nowhere else to go. It has been months of training and months of dangerous missions and now you decide to question me. To make me feel like I don't belong here either, but you're wrong. I may no longer be an X-man, but I'm still part of the X.S.E and I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Mary's eye started to glow as her secret started to reveal itself, she had never lost her mutation she only surpassed them. As Nick Fury started to come closer to her, Mary opened her hand up and then closed. Nick Fury started to shake and collapse into himself. Sparks started to fly as the body hit the ground in a pile of parts. Mary walked over to the crushed cube that was once Nick Fury and she unclenched her fist, the body then sprawled out revealing a robotic body.

"You knew this whole time didn't you." Asked the breaking robot

"How did I know you were an LMD this whole time? I had a feeling since we met at the Xavier Institute on the day of its collapse. After I took your offer to join the X.S.E under your guidance, I did some looking around and found out that Nick Fury has been missing more than fifteen years now. So now I know who you are." Mary said as she stood over the body as it sparked and broke down.

A small panel on the floor opened up and out came Tony Stark in a suit and a drink in his hand.

"Well you have proven yourself Mary, you willingly stood up to Nick Fury and he was a hard ass in my time. Good girl. Now come with me." Said Tony Stark as Mary walked over to him and stood next to him as the platform then descended down into a white room which had people in white lab coats and clipboards, monitoring a boy that was in a white room, fighting robots. Mary looked at the boy as he walked out of the training room, toweling off the sweat and putting his hand out to introduce himself.

"My name is Dominic Braddock. I'm here from M-13 and you are?" said Dominic as he shakes Mary's hand as she glared at him with a smirk on her face.

"My name is Mary and what is this place?" asked Mary as she looked at Tony as he looked at the readings that printed from the computer.

"This is my project, one of over one-hundred that I had come up with before the horrors of the Civil War. I'm trying to unite the world's government under the S.H.I.E.L.D umbrella. I've already integrated the X.S.E and some of the other government agencies, there are just too many letters to remember. So this was just the next step, my own team under the X.S.E. I know the mutant population doesn't like me so much, but with this plan, we will be able to live in peace together." Tony said as he placed his hands on Dominic's and Mary's shoulder.

"But what about schooling and all that?"

"Well, if you want Mary, you can take your lessons back at the Xavier Institute once it's rebuilt and when you're not at the school, you will have full access to my building and information, but you will be my agent when you're not here. You will report to me if I hold a mission for you. Do you understand?"

Mary smiled as she placed out her hand and accepted Tony's offer. _'_Everything is going to plan._'_

"You two are the start of a new future. Welcome to GeNext" said Tony as Dominic and Mary stood next to him and smiled.


	6. Who I am Hates Who I've Been

**Chapter 6: Who I am Hates Who I've Been**

Joshua stood on top of the building as the rain beat down on him, but he didn't care. The city bustled below with people walking in huddled crowds trying to avoid the downpour. He scanned the area, as he did every night, ensuring that no one was in danger. Some nights there was no activity, but in a place like this, that normally was not the case. He noticed a girl walking down the street with her iPod headphones in her ears, not paying attention to three men behind her. One of them grabbed her, and dragged her into the alley. Joshua quickly climbed down the side of the building, and approached the alley as quiet as he could. He saw one of the men had the girl pinned against the wall with a blade to her throat, with the other two behind him.

"We sure got lucky tonight boys, didn't we?" he sneered, causing the others to laugh.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Joshua said coldly, and walked out from behind the wall.

"Take care of him," their leader snarled, and the two thugs charged. Joshua laughed, and quickly stepped out of the way. He grabbed the man closest to him, and smashed his face against the brick building. The man slumped to the ground, and the other one tried to grab Josh's arm. Joshua easily broke from his grip, and twisted his arm the opposite way. The thug howled in pain, and Joshua then spun around and punched him in the face. He turned towards the man with the knife, and said "Now, are you going to play nice?"

"Fuck you," he answered, before lunging with the blade. He aimed for his chest, but Joshua quickly grabbed his wrist and snapped it. The blade fell to the ground with a _clunk, _and the man ran off. Joshua turned towards the girl, who was crying.

"Thank you-so-much," she said between sobs.

"Don't mention it. Here, take this money and get a cab home," he said, reaching for his wallet and pulling out some bills. She took the money in her shaky hands, and Josh quickly bolted from the alley. It had been like this many nights he had returned they all seemed to blur together. They would never know his name, and they probably wouldn't remember his face. He didn't crave fame or recognition for his vigilantism, it went beyond that. It offered (he had hoped) some chance for redemption, to wash away some of his past sins. He remembered how Brent had looked at him with such deep hatred in his eyes. Not that he didn't deserve it, but he really had tried to change.

_You're not fooling anyone, Joshua Essex. This comic hero bullshit is only a facade, and everyone knows it. You're a cruel and heartless predator, just like me._

Sinister's voice played in his head constantly, despite his best efforts to drown it out.

_You're wrong Sinister, and you can't control me anymore. I'll prove it to everyone, and you'll regret ever making me as strong as I am. We'll meet soon enough. _

There was a cold laugh that he had heard so loudly that it felt like it was right in his ear.

_You belong to me Joshua, and what I create I can certainly destroy. _

Joshua hated when Sinister played these games with him, and he vowed that he would take him down no matter the cost. He left the alley and walked the five blocks back to his apartment. It was a small and rundown studio, but he took what he could get. There was a sink and an oven, a bathroom the size of a closet, and a mattress on the floor. It wasn't home, but then again when was there ever one? He peeled off his leather jacket that was heavy with rain water, and tossed it on a chair. He made sure the door was locked, and walked over to the cabinet. Pulling out a small bottle of whiskey (it was all that he could afford,) he sunk down on the mattress and chugged it out of the bottle. He knew that it wouldn't fully make him forget, but it helped numb the pain. His body ached all over, and he so desperately wanted to collapse from exhaustion and actually sleep. A knock on the door caused him to jump, and he got up slowly. No one from the school knew he was here, so he approached with caution.

"Who is it?"

"Just open the damn door, Joshua."

_That voice _he thought in disbelief, and quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open. A girl who was about two years younger than him stood at the door with her arms folded. She was wearing a long black jacket and her auburn hair spilled down to her waist. She didn't wait for Joshua to invite her inside, but brushed past him and walked inside.

"Amanda..." he said, and walked towards her. She wheeled around quickly, and got so close to him, he could feel her breathing. She looked at him for a moment, and then slapped him in the face. Stunned, he took a step back from her and rubbed his face.

"You left me," she said sharply.

"I didn't leave you, I swear! Sinister sent me away!"

"Liar! How do you explain this then?" she said coldly, pulling out a piece of wrinkled paper. He took it from her, and began to read it.

_Amanda,_

_I hate to do this to you, but I must leave. I cannot bear another day in this place. I know you want to come with me, but there are things I must do. I don't want to put you in any danger, and this is for the best. I'll see you soon,_

_Joshua._

"I didn't write this, you have to believe me! Sinister sent me to a 'foster family' but it was a trap. Don't you think he can forge my handwriting, look how powerful he is!"

"You didn't leave me..." she said, her facial expression softening.

"Of course I didn't, and it killed me every day that I couldn't get you out of there. By the time I went back for you, the place was destroyed. I thought you were dead," he said sadly.

"Yes, it's finally gone..."

"What happened? Was the orphanage attacked? Did Sinister himself do it?"

"No, I did it."

Joshua's eyes widened. "You?"

"Yes, I burnt it to the fucking ground."

"What happened?

"Sinister..." she said before hesitating, and looking at the ground. Joshua took a step closer to her, and after embracing her, he repeated softly, "What happened Amanda?"

"He tried something...he wanted me."

Joshua's body tensed, and he began to breathe heavily, his anger rising.

"Don't worry about that now, Josh," Amanda said soothingly. "It triggered something in me, and the next thing I knew the whole place lit up."

"God, I'm just so glad you're alive."

"Yes, I am. But I come bringing bad news. Unfortunately one person isn't with us anymore."

"Oh?"

"Anna. She's dead."

Joshua's breathing became more labored, and he felt like he wanted to hit something. He wished that he could cry, but that ability was beaten out of him a long time ago.

"She perished in the fire?"

"No, I made sure I got everyone out. They say it was suicide, but I don't believe that. She died by his hand, I know it."

A memory began to fill Josh's mind from his days at the orphanage. Anna was one of Sinister's mistresses that he used to breed with. He selected mutant women that he felt had the best abilities, and used them for their offspring. There was one day when Josh was about ten, and he and Amanda were too busy playing to realize that it was time for role call. Enraged, Sinister began to search for them. Knowing how harsh he would be if he had caught them messing around, Anna told the children to come into her room.

"_Anna!" his voice boomed as he kicked in her door._

"_Yes, my lord," she said timidly. _

"_Have you seen Joshua and Amanda? I don't have time for these games and..."he stopped when he noticed the frightened children in the room._

"_You..." he said before stepping towards them, but Anna blocked his way._

"_I'm terribly sorry, my lord. I was having a private lesson with the children, and we completely lost track of time."_

"_Private lesson? Who authorized that, certainly not me! Trying to plot something, hmm?"_

"_Not at all sir. I just thought the children would benefit you more if I was able to help enhance their abilities. I do specialize in the elements, and Amanda's showing a real affinity with fire. Joshua's abilities are also astounding. I was just trying to help you."_

"_You two, get outside!" he commanded, and Joshua (with Amanda in hand) ran from the room. As they hurried down the hall, they heard the blows and whimpers through the door._

"She was the only person that cared for us," Joshua said.

"That's why he probably killed her. She was too strong but too caring. He couldn't use her like a tool."

"She was very brave, also. She protected us."

Amanda sighed, and took off her jacket. Noticing the whiskey bottle on the floor, she went to grab it, but Joshua got it first.

"I don't think so kid," he said.

"First of all, I'm not a kid. Second of all, you are not much older than me."

"I know that, but I'll always call you kid," he said with a smile. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance at first, but then laughed.

"Fine, I won't drink tonight, as much as I want to."

Joshua shook his head, smiled and put the bottle back in the cabinet.

"So, how did you find me anyway?" he asked her.

"I heard about what happened at the school. It's a shame really, I was looking forward to enrolling there. Some mutants were pinning it on you, but I know they're wrong. You would never do that. Anyway, there's been talk in bars and stuff of a 'mystery' hero around the city kicking ass and saving people, and by the description I figured it had to be you. So while I was walking around, I saw those guys grab that girl, and figured you had to be there. I watched you beat down those guys and followed you from the alley."

"And you didn't think to come help me?"

"If I thought I had to, I would have jumped in. But come on, you know you could have definitely handled it on your own, you're much stronger than I am."

"That's not true, Amanda. You have so much power in you, but you never believed me."

"I still don't, but that's beside the point. You look shot, I better get going and let you rest."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I'm sure I'll find something," she said with a smile, and went to get her coat.

"Oh no, you are not going to wander around this city. Sinister is still out there, along with God knows who else. You can sleep here."

"I don't sleep. And Sinister will find me no matter where I am. He'll never let us go, Joshua"

"I don't sleep either, but you can still stay. It's been so long since I've seen you, and I'd really enjoy the company."

"Well, I can't argue with that," she said, sitting on the mattress. Joshua sat down next to her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sometimes I don't know how we survived," she said, laying on her back and stretching.

"Neither do I, but we did. Which means we are stronger than him, we just have to figure out how to use our strength. Either we take him down, or spend our whole life running."

"Mmmhmm" she said in agreement, closing her eyes.

"What's happened since you left the orphanage?" Joshua asked.

"For a while I kind of wandered around, doing what I could to just make it day to day. I was wandering a forest one day, starving and really beat up. This family lived there, and they took me in. It was a man, a woman, and their baby boy. They were so kind to me, and accepted me into their home. They were even going to take me to the school next week. After I heard about the attack, I realized that I might have been putting them in danger, so I ran off. And that's how I ended up here. What about you?"

Joshua didn't want to answer this question, it brought up so many horrible feelings and images. "How do you know that I didn't attack the school? I am his..." he stopped, realizing that she didn't know still.

"You don't have to tell me," Amanda said. He had suppressed it for so long that he wasn't sure what would happen if he let it out. He did trust Amanda though, and he figured she would be the only one that understood. After weighing it back and forth in his head, he decided to at least tell her parts of it.

"Sinister made it seem like he was throwing me out, but he actually planned the whole thing. My foster father was one of his paid associates, and tortured me so my powers would manifest at their peak. It was a living hell everyday until both of my foster parents died. Sinister is my father."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," she said, squeezing his hand. "And I don't care that he's your father, because you aren't like him." He remembered how she'd hold onto him so tightly at the orphanage, afraid that they would be separated. Sinister naturally abhorred their bond, and did everything in his power to turn them on each other.

"_Pain," Sinister said, standing sternly in the front of the room. "Is weakness. Emotions are weakness. There are two very important things that you must know if you want to become powerful and serve me properly. One, that you must be able to tolerate pain. If you cannot, you are nothing more than a worthless waste of life. If you can be defeated so easily, then you deserve nothing short of death. Two, you must be able to bear watching the pain of others without stepping in. Your emotional attachments can be used against you, and I will not tolerate any weakness here. You are not common humans, and you will not act as such. Do I make myself clear?"_

"_Yes sir!" the room said in unison._

"_Good, then let's try an exercise. Amanda, come up here," he commanded, and she quickly left Josh's side to oblige. Sinister looked at Joshua with a grin, and then continued._

"_No matter what I do to her, none of you are to interfere? Understood?"_

"_Yes sir!"_

"_Good. And no matter what I do, you are not to cry," he said to Amanda._

"_Yes sir," she said nervously. She stood in front of the room, and he reached his hand out towards her. A blast of energy shot out, and knocked her into the wall. She let out a scream, and fell to the ground. Joshua knew that Sinister was testing him, and that this was a direct punishment for his friendship with her. Amanda felt pain throughout her whole body, and tried to pick herself up off the ground. Sinister reached his hand out again, but before the next blow could hit her, Joshua broke from the crowd and blocked her. The force slammed into his chest, causing him to crash into Amanda. They both moaned in pain, and Sinister walked slowly towards them._

"_Pathetic. You'll be downstairs tonight, maybe then I can teach you the price of weakness."_

Joshua rubbed his eyes, and looked over at Amanda. She had actually fallen asleep, and he lay next to her to make sure she would stay safe. He watched her, and felt bad that he hadn't told her the whole story of his past. What would he think of her if she knew the real story?

"_Joshua! Joshua, this isn't you, please!" his foster mother, Beth pleaded. He had finally snapped, unable to handle Trent's treatment of him any longer. He felt his power surging throughout his body, and he was ready to use it. No one would hurt him ever again; no one would use him as they pleased. His anger, hatred, and despair collected, and he felt a surge of energy rush from his brain. He heard Beth scream, and then go limp in his arms. After realizing what he had done, Joshua began to cry and tried to wake her up._

"_Beth! I didn't mean to, wake up please!" Beth's eyes were open, but she didn't respond. His body trembled as he held her body. He didn't want to hurt her; she wasn't the target of his rage. He heard the door open, and he laid Beth's body on the ground._

"_Where the fuck are you!" Trent said, walking into the house. Joshua grinned, and said "Right here." Trent walked into the living room, and saw Beth's body on the ground. _

"_What the hell?" _

_Joshua lunged at him, and tackled him to the ground._

"_Let's see how you like not being in control," he said with a grin. He took control of Trent's mind easily. _

"_Now, go to the kitchen and grab a knife," he commanded. Trent got up automatically, and did what he was told. _

"_Good boy. Take that knife, and cut your eyes out." Trent did not even hesitated, and proceeded to actually perform the horrific task._

"_Now your tongue."_

_Trent opened his mouth, and sure enough he had cut out his own tongue. Joshua laughed, but still wanted to make him suffer. Each command caused Trent to lose a different body part, and his death was slow and agonizing._

"NO! NO!"

Amanda's cries snapped Joshua out of his reverie, and he focused his attention on soothing her. He held her as she cried out, robbed of any peace by her experiences.

"Nightmares, always nightmares," Joshua said to himself.


	7. Yellow Brick Road

**Young X-men: Crossroads**

**Chapter Seven: Yellow Brick Road**

Two months from now…

The ground is covered with young mutants as Jennifer, in a new uniform, staggered towards a man covered head to toe in body armor which has scratches and dents. The man stood over Jennifer as she was on her knees and her uniform tattered.

"You solved your mystery little girl, it will come to an end now" said the man as he raised a sword above his head. "Any last words girl?"

Jennifer looked up with exhaustion in her eyes, then over at her teammates all over the ground. She then turned towards the swordsman and said,

"Long live the X-men!"

Today…

It has been over two months since the school for the gifted was destroyed and now Jennifer Guthrie is on a mission of her own. Jennifer stood on a tree and looked into a school building. The students inside the school wore all the same uniforms and left the building as the school bell rang.

"Target acquired." Jennifer said, speaking into a headset, "I'm going in..."

Jennifer jumped from the tree wearing the same uniform as the rest of the students. Jennifer wandered through the crowds until she ran into a girl with black hair with blond and pink streaks in it. Jennifer reached her hand out and grabbed the girl on the shoulder. The girl turned around and was startled to see Jennifer standing there.

"Hello, my name is Jennifer Guthrie and I'm new here. I really don't know my way around the area. Can you help me find Ueno Park? I wanted to learn more about Tokyo rather than what I've learned from American movies."

The girl looked at Jennifer and started to laugh,

"Did you say Guthrie? My mother knew a boy named Guthrie when she and my father were in the states."

Jennifer let out a sigh of relief and said

"Oh good you speak English and yea they were on a team called the New Mutants when they were children. I was actually looking for you, someone that I might get along with."

"It's nice to meet you Jennifer, my name is Jia Li. Look I can't show you where the park is right now because I have to get to a student council meeting, but meet me back here around five." Jia Li said as she walked back towards the school with some other students while Jennifer walked towards the street with a grin on her face.

Jen walked around the city, looking at the sky line and some of the cities attractions until she saw a group of people running towards her.

"What's going on?" asked Jennifer as she grabbed one of the people running in her direction, but the person didn't understand English and shoved her away.

In the distance a monster was coming from the ocean, with long scales, sharp claws and teeth. Jennifer knew what she had to do and ran towards the creature as it spit fire from its mouth. As Jennifer ran, her claws came out and her wings ripped free from the back of her school uniform as she took to the sky. She flew around the monster, dodging the intense heat from the blasts. When she had the chance, Jennifer slashed the beast. The blood from the creature was yellow and glowing. It seemed to pulse with radiation as it hit the ground.

'I didn't come here for this' thought Jennifer as she continued to slash at the monster.

Meanwhile on the ground, the blood from the monster started to form into little puddles and started to grow into human sized versions of the monster. Jennifer looked in horror as the puddle monsters started to disembowel and eat the citizens of Tokyo. As Jennifer looked on, she was taken by surprise as the monster swung his tail and knocked Jennifer through an office building that was occupied with people. As Jennifer flew through the desk, she knocked over copy machines and cubicles; leaving glass spread across the floor and people running for their lives. Glass shards were embedded deep in her body and blood dripped, as her healing factor started to kick in and the glass was pushed from her body slowly. She could feel the shards moving, but wasn't really affected by the pain since she had done it so many times before. Jennifer walked over to the broken window and took to the air, but as she flew towards the monster, she saw a group of individuals fighting the monster.

"This mission just got better" Jennifer then flew out of the window towards the monster.

On the battlefield, a blur of yellow and black ran around trying to scoop up the puddle monsters, while a man in black samurai armor slashed some of the puddle creatures with an energy blade which vaporized them. In the air Jennifer flew past two figures and started to slash the monster as a robotic suit fired missiles at the monster.

"Who the hell is that chick?" shouted a man in the battle suit as he blasted the monster with rounds of missiles from his back.

"I have an idea, but she seems to be on our side." A voice said over an intercom. "Keep an eye on her and when this is over, bring her to our outpost."

"It shouldn't be a problem." the man in the battle suit said as he fired more missiles from his suit.

In the sky, a blond woman was flying with a jet pack. She took out a plasma rifle from her purse and took aim at the monster. Jennifer looked towards the beast, opened her month and let out a blast of sonic waves as the blonde girl fired the rifle. The combined blast hit the creature as it let out a loud scream. However, the power wasn't enough to stop the creature as it started to frenzy out of control; knocking down buildings, destroying cars and homes.

"We need more fire power!" shouted a girl that fired blast of plasma at the beast.

In the distance a blue ball of energy was coming at them in incredible speeds. The ball of blue energy sparked and discharged bolts of electricity as it came towards them. The ball caused blackouts by the buildings that it passed by. The ball ran up the back of the monster, and then discharged a huge blast of electricity. As the momentary blindness induced by the blast was over, a girl with pink and blue hair stood in the spot which the ball was. She wore a special set of gauntlets on her arms and had a grin on her face.

"Big Hero 6, Attack!" shouted the girl as Jennifer watched the team focus all of their attacks on the creature.

The creature screamed in pain until the overflow of energy caused the creature to explode. As the creature exploded, its blood and body parts hit the ground and started to grow into miniature versions of the creature in human sized. Jennifer flew off in the distance and stood on a building looking at what was going to happen next.

"What are we going to do now?" asked a girl in a red and yellow uniform that was a copy of Sunfires'.

"I have a plan." The girl that had pink and blue hair said. She put her fingers in her ear pressed down on a communication device and contacted her base. "I need the go ahead to release."

"That is a no go. You know what would happen to you if you do that. I will not let you do that!" shouted the man over the intercom.

"I have to dad. The city will be destroyed if these mini monsters are able to run free."

"I said no Awai. I will not let this happen!"

"Stop me dad!" shouted Awai "Baiomax, I need you to download the code for the release"

"I thought your father doesn't want you to do that? But in order to stop these monsters, let's do it!" said Baiomax

Baiomax started the download into the gauntlets as the blond pulled out a large teleporter out of her purse.

"Everyone, head towards the teleporter, Go Go Tomago will help round up you guys. Please let her do her job." The blond shouted as she started the teleporter.

"Thanks Honey Lemon! You can pull anything out of that purse." said Go Go Tomago as she raced around picking up civilians and placed them inside the teleporter. After a few seconds, groups of people were teleported to an off-shore island where they watched in the distance the fight of the Big Hero 6.

"Download complete. Get everyone out of here!" shouted Awai as the rest of the Big Hero 6 stepped into the teleporter and appeared on the island with the civilians. Jennifer stood on top of a building to see what would happen as the gauntlets fell off and hit the ground. Awai's eyes started to glow blue as she started to spark. The city was overrun with these monsters as Awai looked around and saw that this was the only way.

"Good bye."

Awai was surrounded by large amounts of electrical energy that collapsed into her. She let out a loud scream as the blast expanded from her in an instant. Jennifer went to fly away but was caught with the blast; the surge of energy knocked Jennifer from the sky and burned her. The monsters in the city started to vaporize from the heat and energy that was generated from the enormous amounts of electricity. In the distance, the people of Tokyo watched as a large white and blue ball of electricity covered their city. After a few hours the energy was displaced but Biaomax absorbing some of it and shouting it into the sky. The city was covered with ambulance and rescue workers, helping to recover the city. Jennifer awoke hours later as she started to heal from the burns and the organ failure that was induced from the surge of electricity in her body. As she healed she flew off in the distance and turned on a headset that she had on her.

"The mission went as well as possible. I'm on to my next location. I'm going to the airport; I don't think I can keep flying after this attack."

"Well Jen, when you get to the airport, your tickets will be there. I need you to send me the data that you got from this girl." A male voice said over the intercom.

"Not a problem, she is strong but needs to understand what her powers can do. I'll fill you in when I get back home."

Two days later, Jennifer was outside of the city of Anchorage, Alaska, The wind blew and it was below freezing. Jennifer shivered from the cold as she wore a jacket with the X-men logo on the back of it. Jennifer pulled out a piece of paper with a list of names on it.

"I have no idea why my mission would bring me here. This mutant better be worth the hassle"

Jennifer made her way on foot to the city. Jennifer was expecting to find people outside walking the streets and a living metropolis, but what she found was a ghost town. The city seemed abandoned, as Jennifer walked around looking for people and a meal to eat.

"Hello!" Jennifer yelled as she tried to find people in this well known and formerly large populated city in Alaska.

As Jennifer walked around the desolate town, she watched the sun go down and the temperature dipped even lower.

'I have to find a place to rest and get some food.'

Jennifer wandered deeper and deeper into the city. The city was truly abandoned with no signs of life; it was as if the people here just disappeared. The city was covered in graffiti with the words, Die Mutant Die, on some of the walls of the buildings. Jennifer took a closer looked around the city and found that there had been a battle here. The city had no signs of people but showed scorch marks on some of the buildings and blood on the ground. This sent chills down Jennifer's spine as she continued to walk around the city. After hours of looking for clues of what happened here, she turned up nothing. Jennifer decided to leave the city and as Jenifer walked out of the city she saw a small cabin in the distance with a light in its window. Jennifer walked as the wind blew over her, small icicles formed in her hair and she started to become dizzy from the dropping temperature. She made it over to the small home and knocked on the door. The door opened with an elderly woman standing in shock that Jennifer was at her door in that state.

"Oh my goodness, Herbert, get some blankets."

Jennifer walked into the home and sat in front of a fire to warm up. The icicles that were in her hair melted off and she started to feel warm.

"Thank you for letting me into your home. You don't even know me." Jennifer said as she kept her hands by the fire.

"Don't worry dear. A young thing like you needs to stay warm." Said the old man named Herbert as he brought the girl some tea and placed it next to her.

"My husband and I have lived out her for many years and we know how the weather can be. You're not from around here are you?" Said the elderly woman as she and her husband sat on an old couch with cups of tea in their hands.

"No I'm not from here. I'm from Westchester, New York." Jen said as she started to take off her jacket.

"You're far from home. What brings you to our part of the country?" said the older woman.

"Ellen, don't be nosey. Let the girl rest up." Herbert said as he gave a little shove to his wife.

"No, it's okay sir. I'm here to find someone for a school project." Said Jennifer as she stood up and turned her back towards the fire.

"School! Wow, what kind of project would bring you all the way out here? And since you're from Westchester you must have heard what happened to that school there." Said Ellen as she looked at Jennifer

"Ellen!" shouted Herbert as he started to get annoyed with his wife's constant questions.

"Yea I know what happened at that school… I.." said Jennifer, but before she could finish her statement Herbert interrupted and said,

"It's a damn good thing that it happened. We don't need mutants running around. All they do is cause destruction wherever they go. I wouldn't be surprised if the government didn't do it. Damn good time that they did something about that damn menace."

Jennifer stood in shock over the old man's statement; she didn't really feel that people really hated them this much. How could people that are willing to take in a stranger be filled with so much hate in their hearts? Ellen added to her husband's statement which took Jennifer by surprise again.

"All those mutants are just proof that the devil exists. It was God's judgment on that horrible school."

Jennifer was filled with anger as she glared at the two old people.

"Sorry dear, I didn't mean to go on a tirade about my feelings about mutants, but us normal people need to be safe." Herbert said.

Jennifer glared at the old couple as her wings opened up from behind her.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer Guntrie and I'm a mutant."

The old couple became afraid as the old man reached from under his couch, pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at Jennifer.

"Get the hell out of here mutie!" shouted Herbert as his wife cowered behind him.

"I'm leaving anyway. You fear what you don't know and when you know there is something out there that is stronger than you, you hate it. Damn backwoods people."

As Jennifer went to walk out the door, the husband fired his shotgun into Jennifer's back. She fell to the ground as blood poured from her wounds. The elderly couple stood back as they watched Jennifer fall.

"Ellen, get the shovel." Said the old man, but as his wife was about to leave the bullets that were inside Jennifer were pushed out onto the floor and Jennifer got up from the floor. The old couple stood in shock as they saw Jennifer heal from her wounds.

"Demon" screamed the wife as she fainted from the sight of Jennifer walking towards them.

Jennifer pulled out her claws and grinned at the old man, who was shaking while he was holding his gun. Jennifer walked up to the man and cut the gun with her claws, walked out of the home and took to the sky.

"Damn narrow minded old people. Always wanting it to go back to it was like when they were young." said Jennifer as she flew towards the woods.

After a few hours of flying, Jen landed by what seemed like an abandoned cabin. She walked up towards a mail box that had the name "Summers" written across it. Jennifer smiled when she figured out where she was; she was at the childhood home of her teacher Scott Summers. She walked up to the home, took a deep breath and caught the scent of a female inside the home. Jennifer leaned up against the side of the door and pulled out her claws. As she walked up to the door she kicked it in, took a quick look around the cabin and saw a fresh fire burning. The smell of the girl filled the air with a mix of smoke from the fire. The scent was familiar to Jennifer, but kind of obscure. As Jen walked into the cabin, she heard a noise come from one of the rooms.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" Jen walked toward the door and saw a girl with brown hair sitting with dolls around her playing. The girl didn't move from her spot as she continued to play with the dolls. Each of the dolls looked like one of the X-men and as the girl continued to play with them, she started to become more graphic with what was happening to them. She started to show death séances from the X-men's past and then she picked up a doll that looked liked Alex Summers, known to the world as Havok and Lorna Dane, known as Polaris and ripped them apart. Jennifer looked on in shock as the girl ripped all of the dolls of the X-men apart and laughed. "Hello are you…" asked Jennifer but before she could finish her statement the girl stood up and opened her hand and threw a large metal rod through Jennifer's chest. The blood flowed from her wound as Jennifer was caught off guard and pinned to the wall.

"Hello, are you here to play with me?" asked the girl as she continued to shove the metal piece of rod into Jennifer.

"No, I'm here… here to take you home." Said Jennifer while she was trying to catch her breath as the rod pushed into her.

"Home? I have no home. The X-men took that away from me." Said the girl as she started to float into the air and metal pieces started to rotate around her.

"I am an X-man and you have a home with us Claire."

"You're an X-man! You all took my home away from me. My family away from me!" said Claire as she shoved more and more metal rods into Jennifer. The house started to shake and crumble from all the rods in the foundation being ripped from the ground.

"Claire you have to stop! The house is coming down!" shouted Jennifer as she watched the house collapse on top of the two of them.

After a few moments the dust started to settle, Jennifer crawled from the rubble and with her healing factor activating Jennifer was able to crawl her way out and remove the rods from her body.

"Claire! Claire! Can you hear me?" Jennifer yelled as she started to look around for Claire in the debris. After a while Jennifer found a lifeless hand buried deep under what remained of the Summer's home. Jennifer held her hand down and then took flight towards the next destination. Jennifer then tapped on her headset and left a message for Scott Summers,

"Scott, we have lost Claire. I'm sorry."

Jennifer flew off into the distance. Hours later, as the sun started to set, a male figure with a tattered X-man uniform walked over towards Claire's lifeless body and uncovered her from the debris. He touched her and her fist clenched, as her life returned to her, she released a magnetic aura that created a hole into the ground.

"Who are you? Another X-man?" asked Claire as she floated in the air with metal surrounding her. "You must die!"

The male figure stood as his hand started to glow purple and fired a blast into Claire's head. Claire hit the ground with a loud thud and started to shake. "Hello Claire. I know you can't hear me right now but once you regain your sanity I have something special for you."

Three Days later Jennifer was sitting on an airplane…

The skies are clear and crisp as she sat listing to her Alison Blaire MP3. This is one of the only times that Jennifer had time to relax from the last couple of days of confusing and dangerous adventure she was on.

'It's been so long since I have been able to just relax, but I know once I land that I will have to continue this mission. Scott was detailed on what I had to do, but I didn't think it would be this hard to complete. I wonder how the rest of the team is spending their summer. I hope my cousin is keeping his nose clean, but knowing him he hasn't. Maybe when I'm back in New York I'll stop by to see Charles and spend some time with him.'

Jennifer continued to relax as she fell into a deep sleep and after a few hours a voice could be heard over the intercom,

"Thank you for flying with British Airways, We will be landing shortly. Thank you and enjoy your stay."

Jennifer woke up, grabbed her overhead duffle bag and headed off the plane. As Jennifer walked into the city of London, she took out her umbrella as the rain started to pour from the sky. England was everything that she thought it would be. The city is alive with people and the rain was a nuisance to her, but it added its own decadence to the city. Jennifer walked down the road and took in the sights of the city; it was beautiful and amazing in all that could be offered. Jennifer walked into a hotel and up to the counter placing her bag onto it. At the counter stood a teenage male figure, tall, slim with blonde hair listing to his mp3 player.

"Hello?" asked Jennifer as she stood looking at the teen, but he was lost in his own world. "Hello?" The teen continued to listen to his mp3 player and reading a book.

Jennifer grew annoyed with the teen and decided to slam her fist onto the counter.

"Hello!" The teen male then jumped back, taken back from Jennifer's outburst.

"Oh sorry. 'Ello, my name is Jeremy and welcome to Arthur's Tower. Are you checking in or checking out?" said the teen as he took off his mp3 player and looked at Jennifer.

"Finally, I'm checking in. The room is under the name Guthrie." Said Jennifer as she rolled her eyes at the teen's incompetence.

Jeremy looked up and down the list of names and rooms until he found her name. "Here it is. Jennifer Guthrie. You're going to be in room 303." Jeremy handed Jennifer her room key and started to put on his mp3 player. Jennifer started to walk away but could hear some of what the teen was listing to. Jennifer stopped, turned to Jeremy and said,

"Are you listening to the new Alison Blaire album?"

"Yea I am. I kind of got an in with her." Jeremy said as he shook his head with the music beat.

"Yea ok, nice choice in music though. I think I got a better in with her than anyone." Jennifer said as she walked away from the teen and snickered under her breath.

The stairs up to her room were winding and creaking with each step. Jennifer finally made it to the third floor and found room 303; Jennifer walked into the room. It had one bed and the room looked cramped with the dresser being so close to the bed. The only plus side to the room was the window which had a wonderful view of the city. Jennifer threw herself and her bag on the bed looking at the ceiling as Jennifer thought to herself,

'I don't know why Scott couldn't put me into a five star hotel, this place isn't a dump but he has me running around all over the world, he really couldn't spend the extra cash on me?'

After resting for a few hours, night fell on the city. Later Jennifer woke up and went through her duffle bag and took out her X-man uniform and placed it on the bed, after that she took out her PDA and looked at the next person on her list.

"Ok, we have a guy named Dominic Braddock and Jeremy Blaire, both work for Excalibur, which will make this easier for me a least, but wait!"

After a brief pause, Jennifer looked at the name Jeremy Blaire and thought of the boy at the front desk.

"Oh come on, I was looking for him. That would have cut this trip in half."

Jennifer got dressed, opened the window and took to the air. The night air was so clear and the city below her was still alive, just like when she had landed.

'How could I be so stupid? I should have looked at the list while I was on the plane. I just won't tell Scott that I made this mistake.'

As Jennifer flew she saw a black hole in the sky, the hole swirled and crackled with lighting coming from it.

"What the…?"

As Jennifer floated in the air, a male flew right past her; the teen wore a full body suit with the union jack all over it. He stood in front of the hole as a bunch of creatures started to crawl from the hole and land on the ground.

"Stay back love, this is going to be messy." Said the teen in the union jack uniform as he turned towards Jennifer and gave her a wink.

The teen then turned towards the hole, reached his arm back and punched the dimensional hole from where the creatures came from. The force of the punch put cracks on the hole, causing it to fall apart and shatter likes glass. The teen male then wiped his hands off and turned towards Jennifer and let out his hand. "Hello my name is Captain Britain. So why are there X-men in my neck of the woods?"

Jennifer shook the teens hands and said "The son of Captain Britain huh? Nice to meet you, my name is Knight-Wing, but aren't you going to take care of the problem down there." Jennifer then pointed down to the creatures running around the city.

"My team is taking care of it." Captain Britain said as he flew down to the ground to help his now assembled team. Jennifer flew down and hid in a tree to look at the team in action. The demonic creatures crawled through the city streets as the same teen male from the hotel came out wearing a long black jacket with a union jack on the back and his hair covering his eyes. Jeremy reached into his pocket, pulled out his mp3 player and cranked the volume. The creatures surrounded Jeremy as the rest of Excalibur cleared the area. Soon a bunch of different colored lights surround Jeremy, he soon released it in a blast that destroyed all of the creatures. Jennifer covered her eyes as her vision returned showing Jeremy standing with the rest of his Excalibur team.

"So where did that X-man go? Captain Britain said as he shook Jeremy's hand for killing the entire collective of monsters.

Four days later…

Jennifer walked around Eagle Plaza in Texas, the building used to belong to the X-man known as Forge; but since he had disappeared into the multiverse, his daughter Hallie has taken over where her father had left off and searching for other world's that might become attacked from a being known as the Annexation.

"Jennifer, I didn't know you were going to stop by." Hallie said as she walked from a darkened hallway with a small metal box in her hand.

"Hallie, I came here to talk to you about a new job." Jennifer said as she was looking at her list.

"Jenny, I don't want to join the X-men. I have been offered jobs by you, the government and private sectors of some undercover businesses that I really can't discuss. So what does Scott Summers need from me now?" said Hallie as she placed the small metal box onto the counter and plugged some cables into it.

"He doesn't need anything from you, but it would be a better help if you came to the school."

"I have already graduated from college and I know Scott doesn't have the funds to pay for me to teach."

"You're making this harder than it has to be."

"Fine, my answer is no. I have more important things to do right now. I'm sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for but that is my answer."

"I'm sorry; you could have been great at our school." Jennifer then flew from Eagle Plaza towards her next destination as Hallie stood with the metal box as it started to hum.

"This is entry 164, I still haven't found my father, but I have found an interesting anomaly within the astral plane; will investigate further."

Five days later…

While Jennifer walked around the streets of Passau, Germany, sunset descended upon the city. The shops from the town started to close and people started to gather at the dock. The city was alive at the beachfront as the crowds gathered and watched a sunset boat race. The smell of the tide and the wind whipping across her face; this felt more like a vacation than part of the mission. It was time to come back to reality as she walked back into the town with her PDA out looking for the mutant signature. Jennifer wandered the streets, following her electronic device towards St. Stephan's Cathedral. She walked in slowly, taking a look around to see if anyone was there. Also, she was trying to make sure she didn't interrupt a mass that might be going on. In this case, the mass was going on and Jennifer took a seat in the back. The mass was long but beautiful in its portrait of life and death, even though Jennifer didn't understand the language fully, she got an overwhelming sense that things will get better for her. The mass allowed her to think of Kelly Summers and of Luke Moonstar. It allowed her to grieve in her own way and reflect on her life and the loss of her father.

'It really has been a rough year for me, between leading the X-men and losing my father; I don't even know why I'm doing this for Scott." Thought Jennifer as an overwhelming feeling of sadness swept her.

She felt as though she was powerless to stop what happened to her friends and family. She felt worthless and she was so lost in thought that she didn't realize she was alone in the church. All of a sudden, a voice could be heard from behind her and a hand rested on her shoulder. Jennifer became startled and pulled out her claws and pointed them at the person that had put their hand on her shoulder. The teen boy jumped back and was startled from Jennifer's claws.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Jennifer stood up and retracted her claws

"That's ok; I just came over here to make sure you were ok. I saw that you were crying and I came to comfort you." Said the teen male as he walked over to Jennifer and smiled.

Jennifer stood up from the pew, walked down the main row and took a look at the enormous organ that was behind the altar. The organ had Roman architecture made of pure white marble and golden metal work surrounded the organ itself. Jennifer was taken back at the amazing beauty that was the musical instrument; the teen male walked up beside Jennifer, stood next to her and said,

"It is truly beautiful isn't. My name is Abel by the way."

Jennifer stood next to Abel, took a deep breath and smelled the scent of Sulfur in the air.

"My name is Jennifer; it's nice to meet you Abel."

Jennifer started to unsheathe her bone claws from her hand and took a swing at Abel. Abel jumped back, teleported in a cloud of black and purple smoke. He soon stood on top of the altar in shock.

"I knew it had to be you; you took after your father and joined the priesthood?" asked Jennifer as she took off her jacket and revealed her wings and took flight towards Abel.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" shouted Abel as Jennifer darted towards him with her claws out. As Jennifer was about to make contact with Abel, he teleported out and she got her claws stuck in the marble. Abel appeared on the ceiling, crawling on it, and started to make his way towards the door.

"You're not getting away from me that easy." Jennifer said as she tried to pull her claws from the marble pillar.

She turned to look at Abel and let out a sonic scream. The high pitched screech echoed in the empty church, threw Abel off balance, causing him to fall from the ceiling and land on his wrist. The fall caused him to break a watch he was wearing. Meanwhile outside, the townspeople gathered after hearing the sonic scream from Jennifer and the fight that was taking place in the church. Abel screamed as he cradled his broken wrist. His skin started to change from a pale white to being covered in red and black fur and a thin red tail appeared behind him. Jennifer pulled her claw out, landed on the ground by Abel and after he stopped screaming from the pain, she was able to see that the watch was an image inducer, similar to that of the X-man Nightcrawler. Abel was an almost exact look-a-like to him, but with black demonic horns with red and black fur instead of blue. His eyes were yellow all around and no pupil could be seen as Jennifer looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to really hurt you. I was just testing you."

Abel got up and ran out of the door, but outside was the townspeople, who now all stood in shock as they saw what they thought was a demon come out of the church. The people of the town started to scream and shout in awe and fear as Abel wandered, confused, into the crowd. Jennifer came out of the church with her wings, which shocked the people even more.

"I knew the end was coming!" shouted one of the voices from the crowd as they started to run from the church in fear from Jennifer and Abel.

"I'm sorry!" shouted Jennifer as she floated near Abel, but Abel looked at her and shouted

"Stay away from me" and teleported from the crowd and continued to teleport until he was far from sight.

Jennifer took to the sky as the townspeople looked at her in shock screaming for her to go after the demon. Jennifer flew towards the woods and followed the smell of brimstone but the mix of sea air and the strong wind wiped his trail from the air. Jennifer landed in the woods, gave up her search, took out her PDA and clicked on the name Abel Wagner.

Ten days later…

Jennifer was back in Japan, but this time she was walking around a rice field in a secluded part of the country; this land used to be owned by the group known as the Hand. This time she was looking for potentially one of the next great assassins and hoped to get him on her side. As Jennifer walked around the field, she could hear the sounds of people in the distance. Thinking that it might be one of the members of the Hand trying to reclaim the land, Jennifer unsheathed her claws. As she walked quietly through the rice field, she saw a fight between two people; one of the fighters was a female, older than Jennifer, but not too old. Jennifer knew the woman as Psylocke of the X-men and the other was a teen male with a sword in his hand; it was Psylocke's son, Anthony. Jennifer stood in the distance, watched a fight take place as she took out her PDA and started to take notes on what the boy's movements were and how much strength he had. For hours Jennifer sat watching the fight take place, wanting to get involved but knowing that in this case she had to only watch. She took a few more notes and flew off into the distance while the mother and son continued to train.

Two days later…

Jennifer was back in New York, she finally felt good since this summer had started.

'I'm back in New York and it feels like home. All the people and the sounds, I'm so glad to be back' thought Jennifer as she carried her backpack and walked towards an alley.

After she walked into the alley, she changed her street clothes into her X-man uniform and took flight. The people of Manhattan looked up and smiled as they saw Jennifer; to them it was just another day in Manhattan. She flew through the sky towards the Baxter Building and saw a person on fire fly out of one of the windows and flew past Jennifer. Jennifer started to chase after the male that was on fire. As the two flew through the sky, they started to race each other, flying through the skyline of the great city. The race could be followed by the trail of fire that was left behind by the teen male.

"Hey, let's give this race a finish line!" shouted Jennifer as she flew past the teen male.

"Fine girlie, Around Avengers Tower and back to the Baxter Building!" shouted the male teen as he darted towards Avengers Tower. The two teens flew neck and neck, dodging smaller buildings and birds that were in the air. As the two teens rounded Avengers Tower they laughed and were having fun.

As the teens flew through the sky Jennifer shouted "Hey let's make a wager!"

"I'm in. If I win this little race, I get to take you out. If you win and that's a big if, what do you want?" said the teen as he flew next to Jennifer.

"I get to ask you a few questions." Jennifer said with a smile on her face.

"Whatever you say..." The male teen said as he flew past Jennifer and closer towards the Baxter Building. After a few moments, the male teen grew closer to the Baxter Building, Jennifer got nervous about losing the race so she started to speed up and then got close enough to the male teen and let out a small pitched scream that threw off the teen as he stopped flying and held his head as she flew past him and touched the Baxter Building to end the race.

"So I won, now let's get inside so I can ask you some questions." Said Jennifer as she floated in the air as the male teen floated towards Jen, while holding his head.

"Fine, but you cheated." Said the male teen as he opened the window and let Jennifer inside and they flew into the teen's room. After a moment of settling in, the male teen shut off the fire that was surrounding his body to reveal a blonde teen male with an all blue uniform that covered his body. The teen had green eyes and in his room were pictures of the New Young Avengers.

"Since you won, ask your questions." The teen male said as he sat on his bed looking at Jennifer as she took a seat on another chair that was in the room.

"My first question isn't really a question, more of a statement. Kyle Storm, you're a mutant, happy birthday." Jennifer said as she looked at Kyle while he smiled at her statement.

"I know that, but how do you know that?" asked Kyle as he looked puzzled at Jennifer after her statement.

"I know that because I'm a mutant too."

"Really? And here I thought you were an angel sent just for me" Kyle said sarcastically.

"Dream on big guy but in all seriousness, I came here to ask you to come to the Xavier Academy."

"I would love to, especially if all the girls look as good as you, but I can't. I'm already part of a team." Said Kyle as he stood up from his bed and paced around the room looking for something to do.

"I know that you're part of the New Young Avengers, but you should come to the institute so we can train you with your powers."

"I already know how to use my powers, thanks but no thanks. I'm happy to be with the Avengers."

Jennifer let out a sigh and walked over to Kyle and handed him a card. "If that's going to be your choice, that's fine, but we will be keeping an eye on you Kyle."

"I have no problem with that." Kyle said as he opened the large window as Jennifer flew out of the window and waved good bye to the Young Avenger.

As night fell Jennifer changed from her X-man uniform into street clothes. She was wearing baggy jean pants and a sliver chain with an X on it around her neck, along with a black tank-top and stood on a line with a bunch of other teens at an entrance of an underground club on a trail of another mutant. When Jennifer got to the front of the line, there was a very large man blocking the door wearing black sunglasses during the night.

"ID." Said the large male with his arms crossed with a crooked smile on his face.

Jennifer then reached into her purse and took out a fake ID that was given by Scott for situations like this. The man took a look at the ID and then at Jennifer and then back at the ID and back at Jennifer. After a few seconds he then looked at Jennifer and said

"Go on inside..."

Jennifer walked into the club, with a sea of people and loud hip-hop music played. As Jennifer walked through the large crowd, following the signal from her PDA trying to locate the mutant she was there to find. After a few hours and a few dances with some guys that were there, Jennifer saw a girl around her age. She had caramel skin color with black hair, black eyes and was the height and weight of an average sixteen year old teen female. The only thing that made her stand out was the tattoo that she had on her arm and the one on her back that could be seen through her shirt. Jennifer made her way towards the girl, following the signal from the PDA. Once Jennifer got to the girl, she grabbed the girls shoulder and said "Husna!" trying to talk over the music. The girl was shocked as Jennifer said her name; she kicked Jennifer in the stomach and tried to run through the crowd towards the emergency exit. Jennifer stumbled back and then stood up and followed the girl through the crowd and out of the back door. As Jennifer chased the girl out of the club and onto the streets of New York, the girl's arm tattoo started to glow as the girl started to run faster.

"Husna, I need to talk to you!"

Husna then made a wrong turn into an alley where she was backed against the wall. Husna started to panic and looked for an exit as Jennifer walked up to the girl. Jennifer got up to the girl and punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Jennifer wrote her phone number on a card and handed it to Husna as she looked up to see Jennifer standing over her as she said "Here is my number, call me when you grow up."

Jennifer walked away from Husna as she stood up as she tried to reach for Jennifer. Jennifer opened up her wings and flew off in the distance towards the last person on her list.

The next day Jennifer stood inside the apartment of Joshua Essex. Joshua sat on his bed with Jennifer next to him as they talked about what she has been up to for the summer. "So Jen, what brings you all the way out here?" asked Joshua as he stood up to get his jacket.

"I came out here to bring you back to the X-men." Jennifer said as she reached for Joshua before he walked out of the door.

"You didn't have to come all the way out here. You could have just called me on my cell."

"This is more of a personal favor from Scott. It's an invitation to join a new team of X-men."

"Look, I have plans tonight, but I'm always an X-man."

As Joshua turned the knob, the door opened. His roommate and friend Amanda walked in. Jennifer smiled as she opened the window and as she leaned out of the window and said

"You know you always have a home back with us. Enjoy your night."

Jennifer flew out the window and headed home for the first time in over Twenty-eight days.

Three days later under the ruins of the Xavier School for the gifted…

Jennifer stood next to Cyclops along with six figures standing around them.

"Today starts a new day in the X-men's history. You select seven are the best we found. Have gone through hours and hours of data and days of searching, you all have shown yourselves to be worthy of the title of Young X-men." Scott Summers said as he looked around at the new group of students that stood before him, "You will be one of the best X-men teams that this school has ever seen."

"So, what now Scott?" Jennifer asked as she looked at her new mentor and leader.

"Let's go out there and astonish them."


End file.
